<** 




V 


















' • « 









* ♦*' *♦ 







HOMOEOPATHIC PRACTICE OF MEDICINE. 



TO BE PUBLISHED BY SUBSCRIPTION, 

flartiiiami'§ Practice of Medicine 

AND 

Therapeutics of acute forms of Disease. 

TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN 

By A. Howard Okie, M. D., of Philadelphia. 

In this work, it has been the design of the author, 
to elucidate as clearly as possible, all of the broad 
practical principles of Homoeopathy; his energetic 
mind, extensive opportunities, and vast experience, 
have in every way fitted him for the task which he 
contemplated — theproduction of a work which should 
render the facts and practical rules of this novel 
science comprehensible and available to every medi- 
cal man. 

The work treats of acute diseases in general, in- 
cluding diseases of females and children, and the 
Homoeopathic treatment of females during pregnancy 
and after parturition. Under each particular head 
our author has been specific and accurate. 

In the pathological portions he has been peculiarly 
happy, and this part of the work will probably vie 
with any treatise on the practice of medicine extant. 

The onward progress of Homoeopathy in America 
and Continental Europe renders it necessary that the 
wants of American Practitioners should be supplied 
through the medium of translations. The work of 
Hartmann is universally conceded to be the best 
Homoeopathic Practice of Medicine extant. This 
being known to most of the friends of Homoeopathy, 
renders any laudatory notices superfluous. 

The work will be put to press as soon as two hun- 
dred and fifty subscribers are obtained. 

It will be published in two handsome octavo 
volumes, at Five Dollars per copy. 

J. DOBSON, 106 Chestnut Street. 

[In press, an entirely new edition of the MANUAL OF HOMOEOPATHIC ME- 
DICINE, translated from the third edition of C H. C Jahr. by J. Laurie, M. D., 
with a Preface by P. Curie, M. D. It will be published in parts— those gentlemen 
who are desirous of receiving it immediately on publication, will please transmit 
their names without delay to J. Dobson, No. 106 Chestnut Street.] 
* 



DISEASES 



car) 

ALIMENTARY CANAL 



OF THE 



AND 



CONSTIPATION, 

TREATED HOMOEOPATHIC ALLY. 
By W. BROACKES, M.D. and M.R.C.S. 

WITH 

PREFACE AND NOTES 

By GIDEON HUMPHREY, M.D. 

' (J ALSO 

AN ESSAY ON HOMOEOPATHIC DIET. 



PHILADELPHIA : 

J. DOBSON, 106 CHESTNUT STREET. 
1841. 







'"K 









Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 
1841, by J. Docson, in the Clerk's Office of the District 
Court lor the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 



E. G. Dorsey, Printerj 
Library Street. 



7<f$) i 



CONTENTS 







PAGE. 


Advertisement, .... 




vi 


Preface, 


. 


ix 


Structure of the First Passages, 




13 


Their Derangements, 


. 


14 


Exercise and Mechanical Means to Remedy 




inese, ..... 




15 


Aphthae — Thrush, .... 


. 


16 


Stomacace — Ulcerated Gums, 




18 


Bad Breath, 


. 


20 


Flatulence, 




20 


Spasms of the Stomach, . 


. 


21 


Vomiting, 




23 


Derangement of the Stomach, . 


• 


24 


Dyspepsia and Hepatic Affections, 




42 


Obstruction in the Intestinal Canal, 


. 


46 


Constipation, 




51 


Colic, 




61 


Hemorrhoids, 




67 


Enteritis, or Intestinal Inflammation, 


. 


87 


*2 







VI 

Diarrhoea, . . 94 

Dysentery, 105 

Sporadic Cholera, 114 

Asiatic Cholera, 115 

Cholerine, - . 119 

Worms, . .... 123 
Homoeopathic Diet and Regimen, . .127 



ADVERTISEMENT. 



There is, perhaps, nothing in London 
life so remarkable as its combination of 
epicurean and sedentary habits. Its dis- 
eases, as remarkably, are precisely those 
which should arise from such causes; 
namely, affections of the abdominal viscera. 
These diseases, however, do not in general 
arise immediately from the habits now 
mentioned, but chiefly from such habits at 
once overloading and rendering torpid the 
intestinal canal, or producing constipation. 

Constipation may, accordingly, be reck- 
oned the parent of metropolitan disease. 
It abounds in every district, in every age, 
and in every profession; and its conse- 
quences tend, perhaps, more than those of 
any other affection to embitter life and 
render it burdensome; for it is not only in 



Vlll 



its evident effects that we must regard it — 
in dyspepsia, affections of the liver, diar- 
rhoea, dysentery, &c; but in its less direct, 
though not less sure, influence on the cir- 
culating and the nervous system. 

Constipation, happily, is peculiarly un- 
der the control of reformed Homoeopathy; 
and scarcely less happily, it brings its 
beneficent aid without any of the pills, 
potions and boluses, which constitute so 
disgusting and hateful a tax on social 
indulgences, and which poison even their 
happiest moments by anticipations of the 
frightful and inevitable future. 



PREFACE 



TO THE AMERICAN EDITION, 



Among the numerous and valuable Ho- 
moeopathic works which have been pub- 
lished on the various affections incident to 
the human system, there has not as yet 
been presented to the American public, 
one treating exclusively of diseases of the 
alimentary canal. 

The book, now offered to the public, 
has the advantage of being confined strictly 
to the disease called Constipation and its 
accompanying train of phenomena which 
present themselves in the various organs 
of the body. These are treated of in a 
plain and practical manner, and, without 
doubt, it will be found a valuable little 
work of reference to the practitioner. 

Knowing the distressing character of the 



disease, to which our author's remarks are 
confined, and consequently the utility of a 
work specially treating of the subject, the 
Editor has no hesitation in offering this to 
the reader, hoping, at the same time, that 
the principles which it lays down, and the 
treatment it inculcates, may be found to 
answer every purpose for which it is in- 
tended. 

As regards the most advisable dilutions 
in which remedies may be exhibited, a 
great diversity of opinion is entertained. 
As it is altogether a matter of experience, 
the physician, almost universally, regu- 
lates his mode of prescription by the re- 
sults which may have attended his obser- 
vations in his own individual practice. 

Dr. Ruckert says on this point, "In 
respect to the doses, most generally, I 
make use of the first dilutions, and never 
exceed the twelfth, giving them in increas- 
ed volume and repeating them frequently. 
I have been more successful in this course 
of treatment, than formerly in the use of 
the smaller doses." This plan has many 
adherents, whilst others, as Dr. Gross, &c. 
vary the dose from the highest down to 
the lowest preparation. 



XI 

If the remedy, properly indicated, be 
selected for administration, it is of little 
practical moment what dilution is used, 
and in a plurality of cases from the twelfth 
to the thirtieth potence will be found to 
produce the desired effect. 

As a general rule, in cases of patients 
whose constitutions are very susceptible of 
medical impressions, it is thought best to 
administer the higher dilutions, and vice 
versa. In some particular cases the first 
dilution may be given with advantage 
where symptoms appear to demand its 
exhibition. 

So varied are the constitutions of pa- 
tients, that the repetition of doses must 
depend altogether on the nature of the 
impression which the remedy may have 
upon the disease; therefore, the practi- 
tioner must rely almost exclusively on his 
own observation in this instance. 

In reference to this subject, however, it 
may be said, that where the medicine acts 
in such a manner as to cause suffering to 
the patient, and it is evident that its opera- 
tion is only to aggravate the disease in a 
too powerful manner, great care should be 
taken in repeating the dose; and where 



Xll 



there is any sensible degree of improve- 
ment it would be highly improper to in- 
terfere with the favourable action by ad- 
ministering an additional dose. 

As the progress of Homoeopathy has 
every where been marked by valuable ac- 
quisitions in the treatment of disease, and 
as the experience of every day throws 
increasing light upon the cure of maladies, 
the Editor has thought proper to make 
some few practical additions to the work 
in question. 



DISEASES 

OF THE 

DIGESTIVE ORGANS 

AND 

CONSTIPATION, 

TREATED HOMCEOPATHICALLY. 



The first passages. — Few persons are 
ignorant that these, technically called the 
primae viae, consist of the oesophagus or gul- 
let, the stomach, the small, and the great 
intestine; that the small intestine, which is 
of nearly similar diameter throughout, is con- 
sidered as composed of three portions, the 
duodenum which commences at the smaller 
or right extremity of the stomach, the jeju- 
num which is its continuation, and the ilium 
which, continuing the latter, terminates in the 
great intestine; and that the great intestine 
which, though of much greater diameter than 
the small one, is also nearly similar through- 
out, is considered as composed likewise of 
three portions, the ccecum which forms a bag 
with a vermiform appendix where the small 



14 

intestine opens into it, the colon which is its 
continuation, forming by far the greater por- 
tion of the great intestine — in the arch which 
ascends on the right side, crosses under the 
stomach, and descends on the left side, and 
the rectum which, continuing the latter, ter- 
minates at the anus. 

It is also well known that there are innu- 
merable apertures, more or less minute, on 
the whole inner surface of these passages, as 
well as the openings of ducts from the liver, 
gall bladder, pancreas, &c. which pour into 
them digestive and lubricating fluids which 
blend with the food, convert it into chyme, 
and facilitate its passage; and likewise that 
innumerable other apertures on the same 
surface, form the beginnings f the absorbent 
vessels, by which the nutritive matter is 
taken up from the chyme and poured into the 
great veins near the heart to increase the 
quantity of the circulating blood. 

Such is the general idea of the digestive 
apparatus, and though it is less complex than 
some other portions of the organization, it is 
evidently liable to many causes of derange- 
ment, in very different portions of its struc- 
ture. 

Their derangements. — The more obvious 
causes of intestinal derangement, are evi- 
dently errors in the quality and quantity of 



15 

the food we use, and neglect of regular eva- 
cuations. 

Exercise and mechanical means to remedy 
these. — To promote evacuation, no means are 
either so natural or so effective as regular 
and abundant bodily exercise. In the metro- 
polis, and especially in the city of London, 
this is by some imagined to consist in a 
bustling and merely fatiguing walk through 
crowded streets; but no exercise is of much 
use that does not induce perspiration — the 
expulsion of the old and useless or noxious 
matters of the body, before it is gorged by- 
new ones. 

In addition to exercise, it is always bene- 
ficial to attempt to obtain evacuations at a 
stated period of the day. Now, as persons 
when in good health, have usually an inclina- 
tion to relieve the bowels soon after break- 
fast (because the pressure of the distended 
stomach upon the transverse arch of the colon 
causes it to contract and propel its contents 
towards the rectum, which, becoming dis- 
tended, gives rise to the desire to relieve 
itself,) this opportunity should never be ne- 
glected, for the activity of the absorbents in 
the bowel soon removes the softer particles, 
and the bulk being thus reduced, the disposi- 
tion subsides. 

When exercise and this precaution have 



16 

been neglected, and when the bowels remain 
very inert, accompanied with some degree of 
hardness and fulness of the lower part of the 
abdomen, nothing will be more conducive to 
restoring regularity of the bowels than the 
use of lavements, in conjunction with Ho- 
moeopathic remedies. 

Perhaps the simplest and best way of con- 
sidering the affections of the primae viae, is to 
begin with those of the mouth, and to take 
those of the stomach, intestines, &c, accord- 
ing to the succession of the parts. For that 
reason, I may first consider: 



APHTHJE.— THRUSH. 

These are pustules or vesicles which may 
have their seat on any part of the membrane 
which lines the cavity of the mouth. They 
are sometimes distinct and dispersed, and 
sometimes approximated, so. as occasionally 
to form a sort of continuous membrane, which 
entirely covers the tongue, palate, gums and 
pharynx. The precursory symptoms are 
great agitation, want of sleep, difficulty of 
breathing, foetid breath, hoarse and feeble 
voice, tongue a little swollen, dry and mem- 
branous only in the inside, thirst considera- 
ble, burning and redness in the throat and 



17 

mouth, fatigue and somnolence in particular, 
deadening of the senses. Then appear little 
points or elevations of a pale or grey colour, 
which grow by degrees, and form superficial 
pustules, round, of the size of a millet seed, 
and filled with a sanious liquid. The viscous 
mucosities which escape from them soon form 
little crusts which fall speedily, or at the end 
of a few hours, and are renewed more or less 
promptly. 

Aphthae are mild when they are white, 
pearl-grey, or yellow, transparent, humid, 
small, easily broken, isolated, when they fall 
easily and quickly, and affect only the mouth. 
But frequently they become malignant, and 
then they are larger, dull, blue, grey, brown, 
blackish, gangrenous, corroding, foetid, nu- 
merous, close, confluent, covered with a thick 
and very adhesive substance, or quite dry 
and hard, re-appearing frequently, and easily 
invading the pharynx, the intestinal canal, 
and even the trachea. 

The aphthae which often attack children at 
the breast are almost always mild. It is 
these only that we have here to consider: the 
others are always a consequence of some 
serious malady. 

The most common cause of aphthae in little 
children, is food of bad quality, or which does 
not suit their age. 
a2 



18 

The best remedy in this case is a small 
dose of* borax, 30th, which usually dispels 
the evil in two or three days. We may also 
administer acidmn sulphuricum, 30th, and 
mercurius vivas, 12th, if no circumstance 
contra-indicate their employment. 



STOMACACE— ULCERATED OR 
EGETID GUMS. 

This name is given to a disease which be- 
gins by attacking the mouth, its glands, and 
the palate. 

The first symptoms are stiffness and shoot- 
ings in the throat, a coppery taste with heat, 
burning, redness, swelling and extreme sen- 
sibility of the gums, the inside of the lips, the 
cheeks, the tongue and the palate. To these 
phenomena are afterwards joined a cadave- 
rous smell from the mouth, painful swelling 
of the glands of the neck, abundant flow 
from the mouth of saliva, or of viscous and 

* Sulphur and mercurius viv. have been very suc- 
cessful in these cases — occasionally calc* carb. or 
arsenicum if attended by diarrhoea, 



19 

foetid mucus. The gums are spongy, ex- 
tremely swollen or retracted, the teeth pain- 
ful, dirty and often loose, mastication, deglu- 
tition, speech and respiration painful. There 
are formed, on the parts affected, small flat 
ulcerations, very sensible and obstinate. 
These ulcerations extend; their base is dirty 
or spongy; their edges are soft, little elevat- 
ed, inflamed and unequal. In a great num- 
ber of cases we observe spongy excrescences 
of different form, colour, consistence and 
size. Very frequently there flows from the 
ulcerated and tumefied parts, especially the 
gums, and particularly when we touch these 
parts, a putrid sanies, or liquid and deep 
red blood. At the same time, there is great 
weakness, and sometimes slight febrile move- 
ments. 

The best remedy against this disease is 
mercurius solubilis, 12th, which often com- 
pletely cures it in a few days.* 

* Nitric acid, given in water and frequently re- 
peated, has been found beneficial in extensive ulcera- 
tion of the gums, tongue, and cheeks, attended by a 
repulsive stench from the month, 



20 



BAD BREATH.* 

The cause of this is often uncleanliness of 
the teeth ; and it consequently disappears if 
they are cleaned, and if the mouth is rinsed 
with warm water after eating. 

If the odour come from the stomach or 
lungs, it must be opposed by the following 
remedies: carbo animalis, 5th, agaricus, 
12th, iodium, 30th, if it is observed imme- 
diately after washing the mouth with spring 
water; ammonium^ 18th, if it is felt by the 
patient; baryta, 18th, if it is strong, but not 
felt by the patient; and sulphur, 6th, if it is 
augmented after eating.t 



FLATULENCE. 

I refer here only to such flatulence as de- 
pends upon errors of regimen and is of short 

* Vide ante. 

t If it be accompanied with acidity of the stomach, 
lycopodium, and petroleum may be given. 



21 

duration. Flatulence occurs most commonly 
after eating certain vegetables, especially if 
these have been taken at the same time with 
fermented liquors. It does not cause pain, 
but it swells the abdomen, embarrasses 
respiration, and usually occasions general 
uneasiness. China, 12th, commonly produ- 
ces good effects. However, we usually give 
mix vomica in preference to persons of vivid 
temperament, and pidsatilla, 12th, to women 
of a mild disposition. The latter is also 
indicated when flatulence follows the use of 
fat food. 



SPASMS OF THE STOMACH. 

In certain cases of spasm in the stomach, 
bryony deserves to be noticed as a proper 
remedy; and the necessity of using it is indi- 
cated by the following symptoms: the softest 
food or liquid occasions a constrictive pain in 
the stomach, frequently manifested ivhilst 
eating, or at all events immediately after- 
wards, accompanied by a sensation as if the 
epigastric region were swollen; and the ap- 



22 

plication of the hand diminishes or at times 
removes the pain by producing eructation. 

Case. — A man aged thirty-eight, of pletho- 
ric habit, suffered sudden and violent pres- 
sure at the stomach. He suffered most after 
eating, with constant numbness and pricking 
in the hands, and loss of feeling. The pa- 
tient looked ill, perspired all day, and was 
very weak and peevish. Paralysis of the 
upper extremities was dreaded; but two 
doses of rhus, 4th, gutt. 1, at intervals of six 
days, put a stop to that condition. This was 
succeeded by a shooting pain across the ster- 
num, which was increased by motion, not by 
respiration, and was most acute when the 
stomach was empty. The patient constantly 
suffered a trembling or sensation of leaping 
in the pit of the stomach. All the symptoms 
were removed by bryony, 6th, gl. 1, one 
dose. 

Very severe spasms in the stomach, grip- 
ing and twisting pains in the epigastrium, 
accompanied by vomiting of a clear and acid 
liquid, towards evening or even night, and 
sour returns, were cured with phosp., 10th, 
gutt. 1, administered every third or fourth 
day. In one case, the spasm was so violent 
that several medical men believed it to be a 
schirrus commencing in the pylorus* 



28 



VOMITING. 

The treatment of this affection is regulated 
principally by the causes which produce it, 
because they determine its nature. 

If the vomiting arise from an excess of 
nourishment, it would be wrong to prevent it 
by the employment of medicine; for it may 
be considered as an effort of nature to free 
the stomach from substances which overload 
it, and thus to prevent sometimes a serious 
disease. But it cannot always effect this 
evacuation, and art is often necessary to as- 
sist it. 

In vomiting, when it exists not as a symp- 
tom of other diseases, but as a dynamic affec- 
tion arising from the nerves of the stomach, 
ipecacuanha is valuable. This is of frequent 
occurrence in children, in whom the slightest 
irritation of the stomach, caused either by 
food or liquid, suffices to produce immediate 
vomiting. 

In the sickness of pregnant women also, 
ipecacuanha is useful.* 

* Nux vomica has also been used in these cases 
where the vomiting is accompanied with aversions, 
extreme lowness of spirits, and involuntary fits of 
weeping. 



24 



DERANGEMENT OF THE STOMACH. 

This has for its cause excess of nourish- 
ment, food and drink which are heavy, indi- 
gestible, fat, sour, tainted, &c. Returns 
either acid or of the same taste with what 
has been eaten, disgust, heaviness, pressure 
and pain in the stomach, swelling and fulness 
of that region, trembling of the lower lip, 
vertigo, weight of the head, titillation or 
roughness of the throat, spitting, haemoptysis, 
disagreeable taste in the mouth, foul tongue, 
inclination to vomit, heat in the throat, weak- 
ness, anxiety, countenance puffed, pale and 
sometimes covered with spots of different 
colours, emission of foetid air, the urine some- 
times mixed with mucus, &c. — such are the 
symptoms of derangement of the stomach, 
which usually show themselves some hours 
after a repast, and speedily terminate by acid 
vomiting of the nature of the aliments which 
have been taken, and sometimes of a green 
colour. However, there often remain for 
some days, anorexia, pain of the bowels, or 
diarrhoea. 

Nux vomica, 26th, remedies derangements 
of the stomach caused by nocturnal dissipa- 
tion, by the abuse of wine and of coffee, or 



25 

by severe cold, and presenting the following 
symptoms: sensation of vertigo, confusion of 
the head, heaviness in the back of the head, 
shooting pains in the molar teeth, ringing in 
the ears, heat in the face, red and distinct 
efflorescences on the forehead, the nose, and 
the angles of the mouth, tongue white and 
loaded, dryness of the mouth, with thirst, 
much mucus in the mouth, heat of the throat, 
want of appetite, loss of taste, nausea, much 
water in the mouth, vomiting, colics, pres- 
sure at the stomach, tension in the abdomen, 
constipation, agitated sleep, want of disposi- 
tion for intellectual labour, general relaxa- 
tion, shootings in the limbs, discontent, 
querulous disposition, and internal agitation. 

Case I. — Mrs. B. had for some years been 
suffering from her stomach, which refused 
almost every thing: the matters vomited were 
bitter and sour. The patient became daily 
thinner, and looked worse, and indeed had 
altogether the appearance of being very ill. 

Six doses of nux vomica in solution were 
administered, and to her great astonishment 
she found herself so much relieved that she 
not only digested her food, but speedily 
recovered her plumpness and her strength. 

Case II. — Mrs. S. had been an invalid for 

B 



26 

a year. She could not eat any thing without 
vomiting immediately, and if the vomitings 
did not occur naturally, it was necessary to 
stimulate them, from a feeling as if the sto- 
mach would burst. Sometimes vomiting took 
place immediately after eating, at others not 
tor several hours. The matters discharged 
were sour and bitter: at times the patient 
vomited first water and a glairy matter, and 
afterwards the food she had taken. The mo- 
tions were difficult and hard. The flatulence 
did not escape, but caused pricking pains on 
each side. The least pressure upon the 
region of the stomach was painful. The 
slightest motion appeared likely to produce 
suffocation, because the cramp in the stomach 
rose to the neck, and caused contractions. 
There were frequent cramps in the calves of 
the legs, especially at night, loss of strength 
and substance, complexion disordered. 

Nux vomica was given in dilution, a dose 
every hour: four sufficed to cure her. 

Cramp of the stomach, connected with this 
derangement, is curable by the same means. 

This disease is very common, usually 
without fever, long and intermittent, attack- 
ing chiefly women, and appearing sometimes 
to be hereditary. In the beginning, it is 
merely a pressure, a very disagreeable con- 
striction and pinching in the region affected. 



27 

especially at the pit of the stomach and the 
left side, and sometimes in the back. After- 
wards, the pains become very sensible, tear- 
ing, burning, insupportable, and are felt 
even in the gullet. In their highest degree 
of intensity, they are dreadful, accompanied 
by constriction, twisting, anxiety, oppression, 
dartings in the breast and back. The attack 
remains at first for some minutes, then for a 
quarter of an hour, an hour, and even for 
half a day, and it often ends by vomiting. 
The pain usually disappears when the sto- 
mach is empty or contains only light and 
mild food, and it returns after a repast. It 
is increased in an erect position: the leaning 
forward or being bent, and even pressure 
mitigates it. Sometimes the region of the 
stomach is rather hard and swollen, more 
commonly it is contracted, very seldom is it 
sensible or tense. A disposition to vomit is 
commonly observed, but it is not always fol- 
lowed by vomiting. The latter produces a 
brief alleviation. Cramps of the stomach are 
more or less obstinate according to their 
cause; and they sometimes resist for a long 
time the best directed treatment. They often 
disappear for several weeks, and return again 
at regular periods. 

The usual causes of this disease, are 
errors of regimen often and long reiterated, 



28 

irregularity of eating and drinking, abuse of 
spirituous liquors and coffee, vexation, anger, 
frequent chills, especially of the feet. 

The remedies to be opposed to this disease, 
are nux, ignatia, pulsatilla, and crude coffee. 
The complete cure sometimes requires the 
use of antipsorics; but it is then necessary 
that an able physician should direct their 
administration. 

Nux vomica^ 30th, particularly suits per- 
sons who are addicted to the use of coffee 
and spirituous liquors, especially when we 
observe in them the following symptoms: 
constriction, pressure, tightening, cramps in 
the stomach, with a sensation as if the dress 
compressed the body in that region, a sensa- 
tion which may be compared also to that 
produced by much flatulence in the left side, 
under the ribs, a tightening of the chest, 
which in many cases extends between the 
shoulders and the loins, nausea especially 
during the attack, much water in the mouth, 
returns of sour bitter liquid, with or without 
burning in the pharynx, palpitations of the 
heart with anxiety, acid or putrid taste, 
constipation, swelling of the abdomen by 
flatulence, sometimes head-ache on one side, 
sometimes also pressive pain in the forehead. 
If the remedy has diminished the symptoms, 
without making them entirely disappear, a 



29 

second dose must be given at the end of three 
or four days, and afterwards a third one. 

Sometimes this state of the stomach is con- 
nected with hepatic affection and is similarly 
remedied. 

Case. — Mr. B., aged twenty-eight, of good 
constitution and bilious-sanguine tempera- 
ment, was seized suddenly on the 19th of 
July, 1836, with a violent constrictive pain 
in the epigastrium, and vomiting, consequent 
upon great mental affliction. His stomach 
rejected all food both solid and liquid almost 
immediately. The epigastric pain was in- 
cessant and not increased by pressure. The 
tongue was in its natural state, the patient 
having neither thirst nor appetite. The 
circulation was in no way disordered, but 
there was suborbital cephalalgia and general 
uneasiness. The skin had a very marked 
icteric complexion. 

On the morning of the 20th of July, all 
these symptoms had been in operation for 
twelve hours. Three globules of nux vomica 
of the twenty-fourth dilution, dissolved in 
two spoonfuls of water were then administer- 
ed. The same evening the pain was greatly 
relieved, the vomitings had ceased, and the 
patient took some broth without experiencing 
any inconvenience. The following morning 
b2 



30 

there was no symptom of gastralgia remain- 
ing, nor has it reappeared since. 

In this case, mix vomica effected a speedy 
and desirable cure, because it was exactly in 
accordance with the occasional cause, name- 
ly, with the mental distress and temperament 
of the patient, with his moral condition, and 
also with the cephalalgia, epigastric pain, vo- 
mitings, and even with the icteric complexion 
of the skin. 

Sometimes this state is connected with he- 
morrhoidal and menstrual affection, and may 
be similarly treated with advantage. Indeed, 
spasms in the stomach, resulting either from 
plethora and sanguine congestions in the ab- 
domen, or simply from increased sensibility 
of the nerves of the stomach may be treated 
with mix vomica. The former case is met 
with more frequently than the latter, and 
then the spasm of the stomach is found to be 
connected either with hemorrhoids or irregu- 
lar menstruation, in such a manner that the 
customary sanguine congestions towards the 
hemorrhoidal or uterine vessels are disor- 
dered. 

Case. — A lady, aged twenty-four, had 
been suffering for seven years from pains in 
the stomach; during the whole of which time 
she had taken nothing but cold milk, as other 



31 

aliment produced the most violent pains in 
the stomach, spasms, nausea and vomiting. 
In addition, she laboured under a flow of 
blood towards the head, pressive head-ache, 
dimness of sight, hemorrhoids , general cold- 
ness of the body, especially of the hands, 
feet, suppression of the menses during five 
years, great irritability, and meagreness of 
habit. Eight doses of nux, 8th, 3, one daily 
before bedtime, and four of bryony, 8th, 3, 
sufficed to diminish the disease to such an 
extent, that the patient after fourteen days of 
this treatment, was able to eat roast fowl and 
roast beef, without experiencing any pain or 
heaviness at the stomach. 

Sometimes this state is connected with 
affections of the head. 

Spasm in the stomach, with nausea and 
eructation, acid and bitter vomitings, anxiety 
and oppression of the chest, palpitation of the 
heart, contraction of the abdomen, blind he- 
morrhoids, bilious temperament, may often 
be cured by calcar. carbon. 

A female, aged twenty-eight, experienced 
frequent frontal head-ache, followed by bi- 
lious vomitings, pressure at the stomach as if 
caused by a stone, pain in the right hypochon- 
drium, becoming pressive and shooting upon 
stooping, motions unfrequent, difficult and 
hard, menstruation painful, continuing for 



32 

eight or ten days, followed by hemorrhoidal 
tumours, weakness, perspiration and agitated 
sleep, was cured in eight days by two doses 
of coccuL, 6th, gl. 1. 

Pulsatilla is particularly suitable when a 
repast is composed of aliments which are fat, 
and when it presents the following symp- 
toms: taste bitter, salt or putrid mucus in 
the mouth, roughness in the throat, bilious 
returns, want of appetite, repugnance to 
warm food, fulness of the stomach, swelling 
of the abdomen, tension below the last ribs, 
borborygmi, constipation, or at least slow, 
difficult and scanty evacuation, shivering, 
depression, shooting in the limbs, and ill hu- 
mour. 

Case. — A patient experienced a sensation 
of tightness above the navel as if the in- 
testines were inflated. At times, there was 
a round lump as large as a fist, hard and 
prominent, the bowels painful at the slightest 
touch, very painful pricking pains on each 
side of the abdomen, feet cold, head burning, 
febrile irritation, frequent tendency to sick- 
ness, followed at times by vomiting. This 
disease, which attacked the patient more 
especially in the evening, arose in the first 
instance from cold. 

In cases of this sort, pulsatilla is an actual 



33 

specific; the exhibition of it is generally fol- 
lowed by sleep, and the patient awakes per- 
fectly cured. The attack may return, but at 
all events the intervals are long. 

Some persons who are very irritable, ex- 
tremely sensible, and subject to spasmodic 
and nervous accidents, are often attacked, 
from causes slight in appearance, with a 
vomiting of viscous and whitish mucus, usu- 
ally preceded by vertigo and pains in the 
abdomen, followed by diarrhoea. Pulsatilla, 
18th, and cocculus, 24th, are successfully 
employed in these cases. 

The derangement of the stomach may have 
been caused by anger preceding a repast. 
The following are the circumstances which 
present themselves in this case: heat and 
redness in the face, painful head-ache, red- 
ness of the eyes with burning, general excite- 
ment of the nervous system, great sensibility, 
loss of appetite, continued bitter taste in the 
mouth, bilious eructations, vomiting of green 
and bilious matters, colics, depression, agi- 
tated sleep, frequent awaking. Chamomilla, 
12th, and, if that be not sufficient, pulsatilla, 
18th, are then the best remedies. 

Bryonia alba, 18th, is applicable to cases 
in which the emotion still remains, and in 
which the sensation of cold is joined to the 
preceding symptoms. If the anger have been 



34 

accompanied by great fear, aconite, 24th, is 
the specific. 

When the nervous system is very irritable, 
and the sensibility increased, good effects are 
obtained from chamomilla, 12th, especially 
when the patient complains of pressure in the 
region of the stomach, of painful swelling at 
the pit of the stomach and of the left side, 
of asthma and of anxiety. It should also be 
observed, that a little coffee usually mitigates 
this kind of pain; while it is injurious in 
others which yield to the use of nux vomica. 
Chamomilla has no effect in persons who 
have used much camomile tea: it must then 
be replaced by ignatia, pulsatilla and coffee. 

Arnica, 6th, is administered if the de- 
rangement of the stomach arise from a gene- 
ral and continued excitement of the nervous 
system caused by distress of mind, watching, 
excess in pleasure, fatigue of the body, and 
if it be accompanied by the following symp- 
toms: vertigo, pain in the head, especially 
above the orbits, stupefaction, heat in the 
head, dryness of the tongue, sour or bitter 
taste in the mouth, desire for acids, tongue 
loaded with a yellowish matter, taste of what 
has been eaten, fulness at the pit of the sto- 
mach, nausea, flatulence, weight in all the 
members, disagreeable heat, agitated sleep, 
frequent awaking, starting during sleep, 



35 

anxious and distressing dreams. We may 
also give nux vomica, 30th, and chamomilla, 
12th, if there be no circumstance which con- 
tra-indicates their use. 

We observe in the spring, particularly in 
persons who dwell in humid places, near 
stagnant waters, marshes, &c, a particular 
derangement of the stomach, of which the 
following are the characters: loss of appetite, 
continual satiety, a heaviness and fulness of 
the abdomen, eructations, depression, weak- 
ness, vertigo, dull head-ache, sometimes 
heats, alternating with shiverings, turbid and 
cloudy urine, sensibility to external impres- 
sions, agitated sleep, ill humour. This state 
is, in many cases, the forerunner of fever, 
which may be prevented by china, 24th. 

When in these affections there is some 
inflammatory tendency, belladonna is inva- 
luable. 

Case I. — In this case, the female was 
pregnant: and spasms occurred frequently, 
each time with increased intensity. There 
occurred violent spasmodic pain in the pit of 
the stomach, and left hypochondrium, with 
vomiting; general soreness of the abdomen, 
violent pressure downwards towards the pel- 
vis, with frequent desire to micturate; face 
red, swollen and heated; eyes fixed, pupils 



30 

dilated; partial loss of consciousness; occa- 
sional movements and moaning produced by 
the violence of the pain. A few doses of 
bellad. 5th, effectually removed the disease. 

Case II. — A man had been suffering for 
forty-eight hours under hiccough and vomit- 
ing. The sensibility of the stomach was so 
great as to reject even a spoonful of water. 
Opium and lavements were inadequate to 
remove the symptoms or the constipation. 
The face was red and burning, and the body 
bathed in a cold perspiration. Belladonna, 
10th, was immediately administered. At the 
end of three hours, the vomiting had ceased, 
but the hiccough still remained and continued 
even during sleep. In order to free himself 
from this distressing symptom, the patient 
had, during his attendant's absence, drank a 
few cups of strong camomile tea. But as the 
camomile counteracted the action of the 
belladonna, all these symptoms reappeared 
during the night, the hiccough in particular 
more violently than before. There was then 
administered a cup of coffee, as an antidote 
to the camomile; and a few hours after a 
homoeopathic dose of belladonna. By the 
evening, all the symptoms had ceased, and 
they never recurred. 



37 

Case III. — A female had been long suf- 
fering from spasms in the stomach, with fre- 
quent nausea and vomiting, after eating or 
drinking, from which she was relieved only 
by partial or total abstinence. At the same 
time with the spasms in the stomach, she ex- 
perienced shooting pains in the chest and 
vicinity of the heart, and frequently so vio- 
lent a constriction of the chest as to impede 
respiration. During the attack, she experi- 
enced anxiety, heat, head-ache, perspiration 
and pains in the back. This disease which 
had for months baffled the resources of allo- 
pathic treatment, yielded in a few days to 
two doses of belladonna, followed by a few 
doses of nux vomica. 

When burning pain accompanies these 
affections, arsenicum album is successfully 
employed. 

Case I. — An unmarried female, aged forty- 
five, an invalid since puberty, suffered from 
various diseases, such as painful and irregu- 
lar menstruation, leucorrhoea, hemorrhoids, 
induration of the liver, spasms in the sto- 
mach, alternation of constipation and diar- 
rhoea, arthritic shootings, especially in the 
head, &c. She had been continually taking 
medicines chiefly of a heating and drastic 
nature. Suddenly she was seized with ex- 



38 

treme pains and fever. The pains were felt 
chiefly in the pit of the stomach, in the hepa- 
tic and hypogastric regions, and in the loins: 
the other parts of the bowels were sore, and 
there was constant vomiting, extreme thirst, 
inexpressible anxiety and agitation. After 
the vomiting and pain had ceased in the pit 
of the stomach and the region of the loins, 
they increased in the hypogastrium and 
haunches, in which parts the pains were 
burning and severe. The hypogastrium was 
unable to endure the slightest touch, and was 
swollen, hard, distended and hot. Shootings 
existed in the rectum, heat in the tumefied 
hoemorrhoidal swellings, motions liquid, with 
tenesmus, sharp burning pains, especially in 
the lower part of the pelvis, fever, dryness of 
the mouth, inclination to vomit, thirst, sleep- 
lessness, anxiety, agitation and palpitations 
of the heart. — Jlrs. 30th, (3 doses) acted 
instantaneously upon the affection, by pro- 
ducing a marked homoeopathic aggravation, 
but without any sensible improvement. 
After a few days, there was a sudden ces- 
sation of pain, and a discharge of several 
glassfuls of thick pus from the bowels: this 
discharge ceased gradually at the end of six 
or eight days, and the patient speedily re- 
covered. 



39 

Case II. — An aged female, who had often 
suffered from spasms in the stomach, had not 
for several months passed a single day free 
from pains in the epigastrium and back. 
These pains gradually increased, and were 
succeeded by vomitings occurring several 
times in the day, so that the sufferer could 
take nothing without vomiting immediately, 
or at the end of a few hours, with increase of 
pain. She sometimes even vomited when 
the stomach was empty. At the same time, 
she lost substance visibly; and finally weak- 
ness and incessant pain confined her to bed. 
The pain was constrictive and burning; the 
pit of the stomach distended and painful to 
the touch, with constipation; the tongue 
clean, throat dry, thirst, sleeplessness. A 
few doses of ars. 30th, administered at long 
intervals, obviated for a long time this chro- 
nic gastritis, which was doubtless accompa- 
nied by a tendency to the production of 
scirrhus. 

Case III. — Inflammation of the stomach 
was cured by ars., 10th, gl. 1; twelve hours 
after which was administered coloc. 10th, 
gl. 1; and the same again sixteen hours 
afterwards. The patient, who was sixty 
years of age, complained of extreme burning 
pain in the pit of the stomach, so great that 



40 

he could not even endure the contact of the 
clothes, and his stomach rejected immedi- 
ately every thing that he took; pulse small 
and quick; the patient extremely restless. 
The cure was rapid, without any other appli- 
cation. 

Chronic Indigestion. — In a case of con- 
tinual swelling of the epigastrium arising 
from wind, difficulty of breathing in the 
morning, but more especially after meals, 
eructation, sensation of sickness, occasional 
vomiting, continual pressure, periodical heat 
in the stomach, and constriction of the abdo- 
men, were almost instantly relieved by two 
or three closes of sulphur. 

Tinct. sulph. not diluted, gl. 1, repeated 
every eighth clay has cured many severe cases 
of heart-burn in young persons. One case of 
this was so serious that the patient began to 
lose substance, as he could take nothing but 
a little broth. Two doses cured him: acids 
had been found useless. 

A female, between thirty and forty, had 
for twelve years been suffering from nausea 
and vomiting, immediately after breakfasting, 
and very often after dinner. Besides this, 
she complained of shooting and tightness of 
the chest, with a dry cough, darting pain in 
the forehead, stupifying vertigo, cold in the 
hands and feet, and pains in the abdomen. 



41 

Fifteen days use of the tincture of sulph. and 
ipecacuanha stopped the sickness: ars. and 
con. removed the cough and all other symp- 
toms. 

Affections of the stomach arising from lead 
require the employment of its proper anti- 
dote. 

Mr. N. , a house-painter, aged thirty, of 
sanguine temperament, after mixing colours 
for some days for a great number of work- 
men, was seized with colic, to which he paid 
little attention. At the end of three days, 
however, he fell into such a state of disease 
and suffering, that he exhibited the following 
symptoms: — dull, obtuse pain extending from 
the middle of the stomach to the epigastrium, 
not increased by pressure, dry tongue, vomit- 
ing of mucus and bile, obstinate constipa- 
tion, pulse contracted and quick, respiration 
difficult, face pale, with convulsive move- 
ments of the extremities. 

Opium being an antidote to lead, and one 
of the best homoeopathic remedies in cases of 
constipation, four globules, 12th, were dis- 
solved in four spoonfuls of water, to be taken 
every hour, and the same at night. Next 
morning, the patient was generally more 
easy; but the pain and vomiting remained the 
same. Mumine, 30th, 5, were administered 
in three spoonsful of water, to be taken 
c2 



42 

every hour, when the vomiting ceased. On 
the third day, as the colic and constipation 
still remained, opium, 4th, one drop, in a 
spoonful of water was prescribed. The relief 
was very marked, and the patient himself 
observed that the medicine seemed to grapple 
with the disease. As the constipation, how- 
ever, still continued, three other tea-spoons- 
ful, with tincture of opium, were administer- 
ed during the day, increasing each dose one 
drop, so that the last dose consisted of four 
drops. After a difficult evacuation, compos- 
ed of a small quantity of hardened matter, 
the patient enjoyed a comfortable sleep, and 
awoke convalescent on the following morn- 
ing, being the fourth day. 



DYSPEPSIA AND HEPATIC 
AFFECTIONS. 

I think it necessary to remark, "and my 
long experience convinces me," that there are 
no cases in which the homoeopathic treatment 
is more singularly beneficial than in affections 
of the liver, stomach and bowels. 



43 

Case I. — A lady in delicate health, who 
had suffered from dyspepsia for several 
years, and latterly from disease of the liver, 
was labouring under the following symp- 
toms: — frequent giddiness, dull pain with 
pressure in the forehead, face Hushed, sleepi- 
ness even after breakfast, tongue yellow, 
thirst, acid eructations, weight in the sto- 
mach much increased after eating, acute 
pain in the region of the liver augmented 
upon pressure, dull pain in the loins, bowels 
constipated, no relief without purgatives lat- 
terly of the most drastic kind, feet cold, 
pulse quick and hard, nervous system highly 
excitable. 

The acute pain in the liver with inflamma- 
tion, and the condition of the pulse indicated 
the use of aconit. 30th, which was repeated 
three times a day for three or four days, 
when the pulse became subdued, and the 
liver much less painful. 

Bryon. 30th, was ordered every night for 
a week, and subsequently every alternate 
night for another fortnight. During the ac- 
tion of the bryony, the symptoms gradually 
diminished; the bowels became regular, and 
at the end of several months no medicine was 
required, and digestion had so much improv- 
ed, that she recovered her strength and 
former healthy appearance. 



44 

Case II. — A solicitor, whose avocation 
confined him much to his office, was annoyed 
with stomach complaint to such extent that 
he could scarcely eat the most digestible 
food without producing great uncomfortable- 
ness both mental and bodily. He complain- 
ed of heaviness in the head, pain in the 
temples, sleepiness after dinner, appetite bad, 
bitter taste in the mouth, cough with oppres- 
sion of the chest, palpitation of the heart, 
distention of the stomach after eating, so as 
to require the clothes to be loosened, consti- 
pation sometimes alternating with diarrhoea, 
spirits depressed, at other times irritable. 

Thuya, 10th, was given daily, and suc- 
ceeded by pulsatilla, 6th. Under this treat- 
ment, the improvement was gradual and per- 
manent. 

Case III. — A gentleman complained of 
head -ache, particularly in the occiput, stiff- 
ness in the nape of the neck, tongue dry and 
furred, appetite bad, flatulence, pain in the 
stomach much greater when fasting, bowels 
irregular. 

Although these symptoms had continued 
many months, they yielded under the influ- 
ence ofbaryt. carb., 6th, every second morn- 
ing, followed by a few doses of staphisagria, 
10th. 



45 

Case IV. — A lady had for many years 
suffered most severely from a stomach affec- 
tion, which had latterly increased to such an 
extent that all food was immediately reject- 
ed, even fluids not being always retained; 
the pain in the stomach most distressing, 
much increased upon pressure, distention of 
the stomach and bowels, eructations, and se- 
vere dull pain between the shoulders and in 
right side, copious secretion of aqueous fluid 
from the mouth, violent fits of coughing both 
day and night, more particularly on lying 
down and after taking nourishment. During 
one of these attacks, she ejected a large 
quantity of black blood, twelve or fourteen 
ounces at least; pulse quick, small, hard. 

Aconite, 6th, dissolved in water, was given 
every ten or fifteen minutes, until the pulse 
became soft and less frequent, when bryony, 
10th, followed by nux 9 10th, daily, removed 
the pain and vomiting. This patient had long 
suffered from disease of the liver, and had 
consulted several of the most eminent men of 
the present day with no relief. 



46 



OBSTRUCTION IN THE INTESTINAL 
CANAL. 

This is a morbid state of which the princi- 
pal symptom is a superabundant secretion of 
mucus, in consequence of weakness of the 
digestive organs. This affection, the result 
of a sedentary life, of a moist and unhealthy 
atmosphere, of painful emotions, or some 
other malady, attacks especially infants, wo- 
men and old men, and occurs chiefly in au- 
tumn. The secretion may have its principal 
seat in the stomach, or in the intestinal ca- 
nal; but this produces little difference in the 
symptoms, which are generally the following: 
— want of appetite, thirst, sweetish nauseous 
taste, abundant secretion of viscous saliva, a 
white, thick coating on the tongue, much 
mucus about the teeth, paleness of the face, 
depression, fulness at the pit of the stomach, 
swelling of the abdomen, sometimes vomiting 
of mucus; when the evil reaches a great de- 
gree of intensity, it is frequently accompa- 
nied by diarrhoea or colic. 

Nux vomica, 30th, is the most effica- 
cious remedy against this affection, especially 
when it has for its predominant symptoms 
cramps in the stomach, much water of an 



47 

acid taste in the mouth, vomiting of mucus of 
an acid odour, slowness of the movements of 
the intestinal canal. 

We employ, nearly with the same success, 
veratrum album, 12th, chiefly when the mat- 
ters vomited contain bile as well as mucus, 
or when these have a greenish yellow colour 
and a bitter taste. 

Tartar emetic is indicated when vomiting 
is joined to a disposition to mucous evacua- 
tions. 

Rheum, 9th, is used when there is softness 
and fulness of the abdomen, frequent alvine 
evacuations of brown matter, mixed with 
mucus, and tensive sensation at the pit and 
in the region of the stomach. 

Pulsatilla, 12th, is employed in irritable 
and delicate persons, if accompanied by shi- 
vering, frequent vomiting of mucus, and mu- 
cous evacuations. 

Jintimonium crudum, 9th, is used when 
we observe great weakness and extraordinary 
slowness of digestion. 

Ferrum and china are also employed with 
success, especially when the disease arises 
from the abuse of laxatives. 

Ipecacuanha, 3d, is especially efficacious in 
almost all cases of obstruction, and may be 
administered in repeated doses. 

Many patients suffering under affections of 



48 

the abdomen, experience pains in the stomach 
and liver, jaundice, abdominal obstructions, 
hemorrhoidal tumours, &c. These affections 
are of frequent occurrence, especially in per- 
sons from forty to fifty years of age, and of 
sedentary habits. In such cases, mix ad- 
ministered daily or every two days, is always 
found more useful than any other means; 
though, at times, the symptoms have required 
other remedies, such as calcar., bryon., sulph., 
lycopod., sepia, graphit., silic, carb. veget., 
phosph, * 

Case I. — One of the patients, who was 
always obliged to remain in a sitting posi- 
tion, was reduced by the affection almost to 
despair. The chief symptoms were obstruc- 
tion of the liver, jaundice, hemorrhoids, 
constipation, flatus, puffing of the abdomen, 
severe pains on the right side of the chest, 
continuing for several hours and extending 
to the middle of the thorax and to the hips, 
impeding and frequently preventing respira- 
tion, ceasing for some time and again com- 
mencing more powerfully than before, both 
by night and day. During the spasmodic 
attacks, the pulse was beating one hundred 



* Nux alternated with sulphur, will be found to be 
the best remedy in such cases. 



49 

and twenty times in a minute, the face be- 
came red and the head confused, terminating 
in oppressive head-ache. This condition had 
existed for four years, without any remedy 
affording relief. Aeon., nux, coloc, ars., 
carbo an. and veget., and phosph. performed 
a perfect cure in less than six weeks. 

Case II. — A young man, who had been 
hypochondriacal for some years, and had 
become weak and emaciated, complained of 
hemorrhoidal affections, frequent colic, con- 
stipation, wind, spasms of the abdomen and 
chest, with loss of sleep. He had become 
restless, timid, morose and often very irrita- 
ble. A few doses of nux, phosphorus and 
mix again, combined with anacardium, re- 
moved the principal symptoms; the evacua- 
tions became regular, the appetite and diges- 
tion improved, the spasms ceased, the sys- 
tem gained strength, physically as well as 
morally. 

Case III. — A female had been suffering 
for five years under almost daily darting 
pains on the right lower region of the abdo- 
men, which extended as far as the loins and 
back; there were hemorrhoids, frequent 
tenesmus, constipation, flatulence, swelling 
of the bowels, legs and feet, accompanied 



50 

with pain, coldness of the hands and feet, 
character susceptible, morose and depressed. 
Three months exhibited a cure by the use 
of sulphur, nuXy coloc, phosph., nux and 
phosph. again. 



CONSTIPATION. 



This is a very common disease. Its se- 
verity varies with the causes which produce 
it. Sometimes it is an accessory of other 
affections, or the consequence, as already 
observed, of some organic change in the in- 
testines. 

The most common constipations, which 
continue during several days without being- 
accompanied with any other accident, have 
generally for their cause the too scanty se- 
cretion of the liquids necessary in digestion, 
or a particular weakness of the intestines. 
They attack chiefly women and old men, and 
are occasioned by a sedentary life, a dry 
kind of nourishment, advanced pregnancy, 
the abuse of remedies, or a predisposition 
resulting from previous constipations. 

Constipation is always accompanied more 
or less with other affections of the abdomen; 
the difficulty, however, of discovering them 
renders it necessary for the practitioner to 



52 

undertake a careful examination of the pa- 
tient. Frequently we find the patient suffer- 
ing also from a sensation of fulness or op- 
pression at the stomach and epigastric region 
after eating, and that for several hours; fre- 
quently also there exists a ravenous appetite 
followed by nausea, temporary heat in the 
face and a pressive pain in the head. In 
these cases, high dilutions are preferable to 
low, because they speedily remove the dis- 
ease without producing accessory symptoms. 

The treatment is regulated according to 
the causes of the affection. 

Opium, 6th, is very salutary in case of a 
simple constipation, which does not originate 
from an internal disposition or a malady of 
long duration, but from external circumstan- 
ces, particularly from those which have a de- 
bilitating influence upon the nervous system, 
and when that constipation, without being 
truly painful, presents the following symp- 
toms: desire to relieve the bowels, with sen- 
sation as if the intestines were obstructed, 
and there existed impossibility of evacuation, 
beating in the abdomen, pressure at the sto- 
mach, want of appetite, thirst, dryness of the 
mouth. 

Case. — For a patient, having a sallow com- 
plexion, loss of appetite, tendency to vomit, 



53 

flatulence, pressure at the stomach, constipa- 
tion, dry cough, was prescribed tincture of 
nux vomica, one drop night and morning, 
advising him to increase the dose one drop 
every day. An improvement was speedily 
manifest without any crisis. At the end of 
fifteen days, he had quite recovered; the 
cough left him in a short time. 

Constipation constitutes very frequently a 
separate disease, often produced by abuse of 
coffee. 

Out of many cases, one was very remark- 
able. During six days, no motion, giddiness, 
stupor, intoxicating heaviness in the head, 
especially in the morning, great heat and 
redness of the face, dryness of the mouth, 
acid and bitter taste, heart-burn, nausea, 
especially in the morning, loss of appetite, 
flatulence, pressure at the stomach, swelling 
of the stomach after eating, shooting pain in 
the abdomen, tenesmus, pain in the rectum 
and loins, oppressive constrictive pain in the 
chest, sleep disturbed at night, great lassitude 
and drowsiness in the morning, restlessness, 
great general depression. A few doses of 
pure tincture of nux vomica removed these 
symptoms entirely.* 

* A few drops of the tincture of lycopodium repeat- 
ed twice a day, will relieve such cases when nux has 
been given in vain. 
d 2 



54 

The following cases occurred lately in my 
own practice. 

Case I. — An elderly man had, for up- 
wards of twenty years, suifered from consti- 
pation, accompanied by severe head-aches, to 
such an extent that he was compelled every 
few days to absent himself from business, 
having fulness in the stomach after eating, 
tongue dry and loaded, &c. He could exist 
only by taking, every second day, a dose of 
some aperient medicine, which relieved his 
head for the day only; the pain returning as 
regularly as possible the following day. The 
stomach had become so weakened by repeat- 
ed purgatives, that it was unable to digest 
even the best food; and they had produced a 
distressing disease of the lower intestines. 
He complained likewise of dull pain in the 
region of the liver, which was much increas- 
ed upon pressure. Sulphur , in five weeks, 
enabled the bowels to act daily, and the head- 
ache entirely subsided. 

Case II. — An old naval officer, was placed 
in early life, on the West India stations, 
where he had yellow fever several times, and 
with difficulty escaped with life, leaving on 
one occasion only eight or ten on board his 
vessel. These attacks produced disease of 



55 

the liver, and consequently confirmed consti- 
pation, which had existed upwards of thirty 
years when I saw him. He informed me 
that, during that time, he had never obtained 
relief from the bowels without aperient medi- 
cines: taking them regularly every second 
day, they had become as necessary to his 
existence as food. Accompanying this state 
of stomach and bowels, were most distressing 
head-aches, and great depression of the ner- 
vous system. Though introduced to me, he 
did not expect anything like permanent re- 
lief. Nevertheless, after continuing for two 
months the medicines I prescribed, the bow- 
els became regular and acted daily; and, 
upon seeing him many months afterwards, he 
told me that, during that time, he had not 
taken or required one dose of aperient medi- 
cine. The remedies were mix, 30th, bryon. 
30th, and verat. 12th, every second or third 
day in succession. 

Case III. — A gentleman had long suffered 
from an eruptive disease covering great part 
of the body. At the same time, he com- 
plained of dyspeptic symptoms, such as acid 
and bitter eructations, fulness of the stomach 
and bowels after eating, with pain in the 
region of the liver and consequent constipa- 
tion. I prescribed verat. for the skin dis- 



56 

ease, to which it yielded. At the same time/ 
the stomachic symptoms subsided, and the 
constipation gave way; so that, at the end of 
two months, although he had not taken pur- 
gative medicines of any kind, as previously 
in the habit of doing, at least weekly, he 
assured me his health was in a much better 
state than for many years before. 

Case IV. — A medical man, who had lived 
in the country where he was accustomed to 
horse exercise and active life, upon his set- 
tling in town, where he had now resided 
nearly twenty years, soon became affected 
with derangement of the digestive organs — 
such as nausea, giddiness, weight and pain in 
the head, loss of appetite, distension of the 
stomach after eating, with acid flatulence, 
loaded tongue, pain in the liver, general 
falling away, and palpitation of the heart, to 
such an extent that in bed the clothes were 
often lifted up. This continued for several 
years, when the bowels became obstinately 
constipated, requiring purgatives, tonics, 
alkalines and alteratives continually. He 
informed me that a week never passed with- 
out medicine — seldom a day without either 
soda or a purgative. All these means were 
discontinued; and, by the use of calcarea car- 
bonica, and subsequently carbo vegetabilis, 



57 

the dyspeptic symptoms subsided, and the 
constipation was removed. Upwards of three 
years have elapsed with no return of the 
complaint. 

Case V. — Colonel P. had resided many 
years in a warm climate, and during the 
greater part of that time, had laboured under 
irregularity and derangement of the bowels, 
which terminated in confirmed constipation. 
Having lived freely, he had two or three 
attacks of inflammation of the liver, which 
produced induration and evident enlarge- 
ment. He had frequent fits of vomiting, with 
acid and bitter eructations, weight and ful- 
ness of the stomach and bowels, particularly 
after eating, restless nights, head-ache, tongue 
loaded, dryness and thirst, kidneys much 
affected, and was altogether much emaciated. 
Bryonia, veratrum and opium were given in 
succession, when all the symptoms gradually 
yielded; and in from three to four months, 
the patient was convalescent. 

Constipation in Women. — In this case, 
exercise, especially in the open air, absti- 
nence from coffee and heating drinks, and 
the use of fruit are necessary and assist the 
action of mix, 8th, which is in most cases the 
requisite treatment. If this only improves 



58 

the condition without curing it entirely, we 
may administer ignat. 6th, gl. 2, after which 
nux, 10th, again. In some cases, bryony, 
6th, gl. 2, opium, 2nd, gl. 2, and veratrum will 
answer. When the constipation is obstinate, 
it will be advisable to assist these remedies 
with lavements. If all these fail, we must 
then have recourse to plumb., alum., platin., 
sepia, and especially the two last. 

Bryony is still more important in cases of 
lying-in women, when constipation arises 
very frequently from inflammatory irritation 
of the abdominal organs, to which this remedy 
is strikingly adapted. 

We may in the same manner treat the 
constipation which usually occurs in the first 
days after delivery, if it do not speedily dis- 
appear of itself. 

Case. — A lady, the wife of a professional 
man, had suffered from constipation for up- 
wards of twenty years, and during the last 
four or five years, had been obliged to take 
aperient medicine daily. In such a way, 
indeed, had purgatives been administered, 
both as to quantity and quality, that they had 
produced ulceration of the lower intestines, 
discharging blood, pus and mucus, in quanti- 
ties that became alarming. She had long 
suffered from torpid, if not diseased, state of 



59 

liver, and great weakness both mental and 
bodily, &c. She was much reduced and fast 
hastening to the grave, when I was consult- 
ed. Six doses of nux and bryonia entirely 
removed the constipated state of bowels, and 
the general health rapidly improved. Occa- 
sional doses of nitric acid restored the ul- 
cerated bowels to health, and the discharge 
gradually ceased. Nearly live years have 
since passed with no return of the disease; 
and though not a single purgative has been 
since taken, the general health is better than 
at any previous period of life. 

Constipation in Children. — The first 
point necessary is to regulate the regimen of 
the child and the nurse. Care must also be 
taken that the child be not too much confined 
by its clothes. 

The constipation of new-born children has 
usually for its cause food which does not 
agree with their age, especially when they 
are not suckled, or when, besides the milk of 
their nurse, they receive more solid food. 

It may be prevented by adding to that 
milk, in cases when it is not sufficient, only 
very light substances, such as cow's milk 
mixed with water, pigeon or chicken soup, 
water gruel slightly boiled, &c. 

If the patient be in good health, a lave- 



60 

ment of warm milk, water gruel, with or 
without castor oil, is frequently sufficient: 
should it fail, another lavement of honey 
water will be certain to produce the effect. 
If the mother is not accustomed to coffee, 
two or three spoonsful may be administered 
to the child. 

When these dietetic precautions are not 
sufficient, we must have recourse to internal 
remedies. For this purpose, nux, 10th, is 
appropriate, especially when the mother has 
been accustomed to coffee, in which case it is 
a specific. But it is also efficacious in other 
cases, for instance, when constipation is pro- 
duced by undigested food, or when the alvine 
excretions are so hard that the child cannot 
void them without great straining, pain and 
blood. 

Next to this stands opium, 2nd, which is 
indicated when the peristaltic movement of 
the intestinal canal is, so to speak, de- 
stroyed, when there exists no inclination to 
obtain relief, and the abdomen gradually 
swells. Advantage has sometimes been de- 
rived from a higher dilution than that just 
mentioned. 

Next to these two remedies, bryon. 10th, 
1 and 2, veratr. 10th, 1, are most effective. 
The first operates in a manner very similar 
to nux vomica, and frequently succeeds when 



61 

r 

the other has failed, and vice versa. With 
respect to veratrum it is most efficient in 
cases where the rectum appears deprived of 
all action. 

When the disease is very obstinate, tinc- 
ture of sulphur, or tycopodium, 10th, are very 
successful. Calc. carb., and zinc, are equally 
valuable: the latter is one of the best reme- 
dies in constipation in children. 



COLIC. 



Colic is a pain generally pinching, tearing, 
tensive, without any symptom of inflamma- 
tion, without fixity or continuity, rarely 
burning, which affects the interior of the ab- 
domen, especially the region of the umbilicus, 
tends almost always from above downwards, 
and has often for an accessory a swelling of 
the abdomen. The stomach being exempt 
from suffering, or that being only accidental, 
if that viscus contains no impurities, the 
patient scarcely ever vomits; and if that does 
occur, he ejects only the matters contained in 
the stomach, mixed with a little bile. There 



62 

is sometimes accidental constipation, more 
frequently a little diarrhoea, rarely any fever. 

In children, after evacuation of urine, 
more considerable than ordinary, we often 
remark much agitation and impatience, con- 
tinual crying, sudden screams, contortions 
which disfigure the countenance during sleep, 
sleeplessness and cramps. They draw up 
the limbs, bend them, and are incapable of 
lactation. 

The treatment of colic is regulated princi- 
pally by the causes which have produced it. 
In children, it is usually caused by cold, or 
by worms: in adults by severe cold, by ex- 
cess in eating and drinking, but often also by 
a particular disposition to flatulence and to 
hemorrhoids. 

Chamomilla, 12th, or pulsatilla, 15th, cures 
colic produced by a cold, when it presents 
the following symptoms: violent, cutting, 
tearing pains in the bowels, causing agitation 
which allows the patient no rest, a sensation 
as if the abdomen were entirely empty, with 
continual commotion in the intestines, dark 
circles around the eyes, frequent collection 
of saliva in the mouth, violent and tearing 
pain below the navel, pains in the loins, 
nausea, inclination to vomit, diarrhoea, eva- 
cuations green, watery and mixed with mu- 
cus. 



63 

Nux vomica, 24th, for adults, 30th, for 
children, causes the prompt disappearance of 
a colic characterized as follows: constipation, 
sensation of a heavy weight in the abdomen, 
extraordinary heat, considerable tension of 
the part, with anxious, short and painful 
respiration, fulness of the abdomen and un- 
der the ribs, shooting, pinching, compressing 
pains, as if the intestines were pressed, vio- 
lent and confusing pain in the head, the ab- 
domen painful to the touch, loss of conscious- 
ness, the extremities cold at the moment 
when the affection is most violent. 

Windy colics, which have their seat in the 
lower part of the abdomen, yield to the same 
remedy in cases in which the air, seeking a 
passage, produces pressure, as if by a sharp 
or cutting instrument, towards the bladder 
and rectum, a pressure which is acutely felt 
at every step, but which repose, the sitting 
or the lying position cause quickly to disap- 
pear. 

Mercury, 10th, for adults, 12th, for chil- 
dren, and cina, are successfully employed 
against colics caused by worms, the symp- 
toms of which are great inclination to vomit, 
collection of saliva in the mouth, twisting in 
the bowels, with sensation of hardness around 
the umbilicus, convulsive twitchings in the 
muscles of the abdomen, frequent hiccough, 



64 

disgust for food, continual desire to relieve 
the bowels, the abdomen hard and swollen, 
tensive and burning pain, eructations, gene- 
ral weakness, diarrhoea, evacuation of mucus, 
with pains in the bowels, especially towards 
midnight. 

The symptoms of colic produced by excess 
of nourishment or by unhealthy food are: 
nausea, weight, with a feeling of extension 
and of painful tension in the abdomen, tear- 
ing, pinching, and cutting pain, increased by 
touch, white saliva foaming from the mouth, 
pains above the navel, diarrhoea, evacuations 
green, or of a citron colour, with violent pain 
in the stomach, countenance pale, dark cir- 
cles round the eyes, slight convulsions of the 
limbs, bending of the body, pressive and ten- 
sive head-ache. Half a cup of strong coffee 
would have the effect, in persons who do not 
make habitual use of that beverage, of evacua- 
ting the superabundant or unhealthy aliments 
contained in the stomach and intestines. 
"When this means has produced the desired 
result, it should, after some hours, be follow- 
ed by pulsatiUa, 18th. 

Pulsatilla, 12th, is the best remedy against 
hemorrhoidal colics, of which the usual symp- 
toms are the following: — beating at the pit of 
the stomach, a painful feeling of constriction 
as if it were too full, borborygmi in the abdo- 



05 

men, the escape of flatulence prevented, heat 
and swelling of the abdomen, general heat 
with swelling of the veins of the hands and 
forehead, insupportableness by the patient of 
all vestments, greater suffering when in bed, 
movement procuring some relief, pains in the 
loins, an almost entire incapability of dress- 
ing, pain in the abdomen as if a blow had 
been received, agitation, anxiety, sleepless- 
ness. 

Colocyntk, 30th, is very efficacious against 
various kinds of colics, especially when they 
cannot be ascribed to a known cause. But it 
is more particularly indicated by pains in the 
abdomen, violent and continual, or ceasing 
only to re-appear with greater intensity, and 
leaving in the parts that have been affected a 
pain of tearing which produces at every step 
a sensation as if the intestines were freely 
suspended, which obliges the patient to walk 
very slowly and with extreme caution, the 
pain experienced in the umbilical region 
sensible chiefly at a point of small extent, 
recurring only at intervals of from five to ten 
minutes or even longer, commencing always 
by slight shootings from the ribs to the centre 
which gradually augment, becoming constric- 
tive, pressing, tearing, dragging, and reach 
such a degree of violence that the patient 
utters loud cries, the anxiety and pain allow* 
e2 



66 

ing him no rest, and compelling him to writhe 
with the agony. 

Colics with which some women are attack- 
ed at the commencement of the catamenia, 
usually disappear when it has occurred; but 
the affection may, in certain circumstances, 
continue and become very distressing. Nux 
vomica, 30th, is then often employed with 
success, especially when the disease is cha- 
racterized by a twisting in the abdomen, 
with some nausea, a poignant spasmodic 
pain in the pelvis chiefly about the ischium, 
which becomes remittent, pressive, or shoot- 
ing, with constriction in the region of the 
bladder. 

Coffee, 3d, causes the disappearance of the 
following symptoms: pains in the abdomen, 
violent and spasmodic, which affect even the 
chest, bending of the body with convulsions 
of the limbs, grinding of the teeth, general 
cold, crampoid stiffening, loss of respiration, 
sighing, fulness of the abdomen, with pres- 
sure. 

Pulsatilla, 18th, may be employed in the 
same circumstances when they are accompa- 
nied by violent and pressive pain of the ab- 
domen and loins, and by an evident shooting 
from the trunk to the thighs, which ceases 
when seated, and to which are joined a pain- 



67 

ful pressure on the rectum, and pains in the 
back. 

Frequent colics may produce a disposition 
to be attacked by them from the slightest 
causes, and may even become the origin of 
organic changes.* 



HEMORRHOIDS. 

This disease, which is very common, has 
for its cause an impediment to the circulation 
in the vessels of the abdomen, and has al- 
most always for its precursor a long series of 
affections of the digestive organs. It attacks 
chiefly men of middle age and women after 
the suppression of the catamenia, and it is 
characterized by obstinate constipation, by 
congestions in the head and chest, vertigo, 
palpitation of the heart, pains in the back, 
tenesmus, itching in the perinseum and in the 
rectum, excrescences about the anus, colics, 
Sic. It re-appears at fixed or indefinite pe- 

* In colica flatulenta, carb. veg. and lye. are mostly 
to be relied upon, 



68 

riods, and has commonly for its result a more 
or less considerable excretion of mucus or 
blood. 

During pregnancy, we generally find some 
disorder in the alvine secretions and hemor- 
rhoidal effusions. Two or three weeks after 
delivery, every motion is accompanied by 
lancinating pain in the rectum. In a short 
time, the evacuations occur every three or 
five days, the excretions being dry and hard. 
After long and inefficient efforts, no relief is 
obtained, or at most but of a small quantity 
of matter; the pain in the rectum reaches the 
greatest degree of suffering, with anxious 
perspiration of the face, and tendency to syn- 
cope; with the evacuation a discharge either 
of pure blood, or sanguinolent mucus; after 
which the heat and shooting pains in the rec- 
tum, remain for some time. The anus itself 
forms a round, hard, livid tumour. There 
are continual pains in the loins, extending 
towards the back, especially during move- 
ment* 

Hemorrhoids may be divided into two 
large classes, internal and external, and each 
of these classes may be subdivided into fluent 
and dry. 

The patient ought above all things to ob- 
serve a severe regimen, to take much exer- 
cise in the open air, to keep the feet warm, 



09 

and to avoid coftee, wine, spirits, and mental 
excitement. 

In the first place, however, it will be well 
to point out the principal remedies most 
likely to be successful in the disease of which 
we treat. Most of the antipsoric remedies 
may be beneficially used, amongst which we 
recognise arsenicum, antirnonium crudum y 
calcarea, graphites, mercurius, phosphorus, 
sulphur. 

These may be alternated with aconite, ar- 
nica, nux, pulsatilla, fyc. used as intercurrent 
medicines. 

Arsenic, — In cases of large, burning, ulcer- 
ated external hemorrhoids. 

Antimony. — In fluent hemorrhoids, with 
excretion of black blood, and burning and 
pricking sensation. 

Calcarea. — Expulsion of hemorrhoids dur- 
ing evacuation, spasmodic contractions of the 
rectum. 

Graphites. — Painful hemorrhoids secreting 
a mucous liquid. 

Mercurius. — Inflammation accompanied 
with tearing pain round the margin of the 
anus, evacuations acrid and bloody, excoriat- 
ing the extremity of the rectum. 

Phosphorus. — Itching hemorrhoidal tu- 
mours, with small ulcers allowing the dis- 



70 

charge of a great quantity of blood. Flow of 
mucus from the anus, which remains open. 

Sulphur. — Hemorrhoidal colics followed 
by discharge of blood, expulsion of hemor- 
rhoids, descent of the rectum. 

Aconitum. — Extensive hemorrhage from 
hemorrhoidal tumours; hemorrhoidal fever, 
violent inflammation of the tubercles, which 
are hard, bright and ready to burst. 

Arnica. — Hemorrhoidal tumours caused by 
external violence. 

Nux. — Constipation, pressure on the rec- 
tum, tenesmus before and after evacuations, 
discharge of blood-stained mucus: dry he- 
morrhoids, painful during evacuation. 

Pulsatilla. — Excretion of yellowish mucus, 
hemorrhoidal tumours, with smarting and 
soreness. 

I would here direct attention to the fact 
that, with the exception of arnica, apsoric 
medicines cannot alone cure hemorrhoids 
produced by external violence, such as long 
riding, or wearing bandages which exercise 
constant pressure on the part. In all other 
cases, we should have recourse to antipsorics, 
alternately with apsorics, according to the 
indications. 

When besides a disagreeable itching, he- 
morrhoidal excrescences occasion a continual 
and violent burning, accompanied by diar- 



71 

rhoeal evacuations, we employ with success 
capsicum annuum, 15th: arsenicum album, 
30th, possesses the property of dispelling this 
burning in the rectum and the neighbouring 
parts.* 

Case I. — A female, aged twenty-two, mo- 
ther of six children, of a venous-arterial con- 
stitution, had been for two years suffering 
from blind hemorrhoids, arising principally 
from a sedentary life, and the habitual use of 
very strong coffee. She one day found three 
tumours at the anus, as large as nuts, which 
produced great throbbing and burning pain, 
and prevented her sitting down. The pain 
extended half way up the rectum, accompa- 
nied with febrile symptoms, heaviness of the 
head, vertigo, loss of appetite and consti- 
pation. An allopathist prescribed twenty 
leeches, hip baths and emollient lavements. 
This treatment was continued for eighteen 
days, during which the patient had ninety 
leeches and thirty-six hip baths. Instead of 
the disease, however, being in any way alle- 
viated, the symptoms increased to an extraor- 
dinary degree, the patient suffering excessive 
pain, which no narcotic could relieve. The 



* The best remedies in herpetic hemorrhoids are 
calc. kali, and lycop. 



72 

medical attendants declared that no resource 
was left but to extirpate the tumours, which 
they asserted was necessary on account of 
the formation of cancerous ulcers. This was 
the advice of many eminent practitioners who 
were called in consultation. The friends, 
being alarmed, determined to try the homoe- 
opathic treatment. The following was her 
condition: — 

Local Affection. — The patient tossing about 
in bed, and complaining of burning, shooting 
and throbbing pains in the anus and its vi- 
cinity, which she described as similar to those 
that might be produced by a red-hot iron. 
Outside the anus and extending inwards were 
three tumours as large as nuts, inflamed, and 
having on their internal surfaces some excres- 
cences of a very painful nature that bled at 
the slightest touch. The whole internal sur- 
face of the anus was ulcerated, and secreted 
an ichorous liquid. 

Sympathetic Affections. — Weight and pres- 
sure at the occiput; loss of appetite, tongue 
dry, chapped and hot; violent thirst, consti- 
pation; ardor urinae, loss of sleep, skin dry 
and hot, and dread of death. 

Ars. 10th, 3, was prescribed, suspending 
all other remedies. 

This selection was determined by the shoot- 



73 

ing and burning pains, the ichorous discharge 
and the moral symptoms. 

After the powder had been taken half an 
hour, the patient slept undisturbed for three 
hours, when she no longer suffered the violent 
pains. 

A second dose of arsenic, 10th, 2, was pre- 
scribed. The following day the patient ex- 
perienced only a slight sensibility at the anus 
when seated. She had had a copious evacu- 
ation. The tumours had diminished during 
the night in size, redness and sensibility; the 
ichorous discharge from the anus had ceased, 
as well as the ardor urinse. 

The patient was now left three days with- 
out medicine, at the end of which time was 
administered, in consequence of the consti- 
pation and loss of appetite, nux, 10th, 3. 
From this time, there was a general improve- 
ment, and the patient was enabled to leave 
her bed. Sepia, nux vomica and sulphur had 
thus in a very short period entirely removed 
an affection that had been regarded as incu- 
rable. 

In suppression of hemorrhoidal flux, for 
several months; continual vertigo, occasion- 
ally so severe as to prostrate the patient to a 
state of insensibility, dull pain in the head, 
as if intoxicated; violent, pressive and stu- 
pifying head-ache; loss of memory, alvine 



74 

evacuations, infrequent and hard. A few 
doses of cole. carb. 5 th, effected a cure. 

Sulphur, 30th, effects the most perfect and 
the most durable cure, when the disease pre- 
sents the following symptoms: continual de- 
sire to obtain evacuation even after diarrhosal 
or sanguinolent dejections, a darting pain of 
excoriation in the rectum and neighbouring 
parts, with itching, burning, and humidity of 
the excrescences, which cause a constricting 
fulness in the rectum, and often even the 
descent of that viscus, violent and darting 
pains in the loins, and tension as if the skin 
and the muscles were shortened. 

In hemorrhoids, especially termed blind, 
with constipation and shooting pains in the 
rectum, accompanied by various affections of 
a hemorrhoidal nature, or consequent on the 
suppression of sanguine congestions, or ha- 
bitual hemorrhages, congestion towards the 
head, continual pressive pain at the occiput, 
vertigo, flow of blood to the heart, great exci- 
tability of the whole vascular system, pulsa- 
tion throughout the body, with anxiety, 
oppression, disordered digestion and consti- 
pation, sulphur is successful. 

Case. — A man, aged thirty-two, of strong 
constitution and arterio-venous temperament, 
was attacked, (after riding for a very con- 



75 

siderable distance, and indulging much in 
heating liquors,) by blind hemorrhoids which 
at first only produced constipation, itching, 
and throbbing at the anus. His medical 
attendant prescribed cold hip baths, cold 
lavements and leeches. These dangerous 
applications diminished the heat, itching and 
throbbing, but had no effect on the hemor- 
rhoidal tumours or the constipation. The 
bite of a leech produced an abscess, followed 
by anal fistula, which was operated upon by 
an eminent surgeon. But the wound would 
not heal; the hemorrhoids protruded at every 
evacuation; and the patient's state was worse 
than before, he was in the following state: 

Local Affection, — The patient complained 
of heat, fulness and throbbing at the part. 
The hemorrhoidal tumours protruded at 
every evacuation, discharging and causing 
heat. The incision made by the operator six 
weeks before was not yet closed. Tumours 
as large as nuts were apparent externally 
when the patient sought evacuation, their 
internal surface was livid, and covered with 
excrescences. 

Sympathetic Affections, — Weight and ful- 
ness of the head, face red, covered with tu- 
mours, appetite good but soon satiated, fre- 
quent eructations, pressure and tension of 
the two hypochondria impeding inspiration, 



76 

scanty evacuations with copious expulsion of 
flatus, sleep restless, disturbed by dreams, 
depression, anger, discontent, peevishness, 
indifference towards his wife and children, of 
whom however, in health, he was remarkably 
fond, gloomy thoughts, propensity to commit 
suicide. 

Here there was clearly a well developed 
case of hypochondria resulting from hyperve- 
nosity of the abdomen. For this reason, in 
order to act effectually on the venous system, 
and render the organization accessible to 
treatment, sulph. 4th, gtt. 1, in a drachm of 
water was administered. Never is it more 
necessary to begin by rousing the suscepti- 
bility of the organization than in cases of 
exaltation of abdominal venosity, or what is 
called hypochondria. Every morning for 
eight days, the patient took one drop in a 
glass of water, without any evident effect, 
except that during the first four days, the 
wound occasioned by the operation was per- 
fectly healed. After eight days the moral 
state, the abundance of flatus, and the ten- 
sion of the hypochondria induced the pre- 
scription of conium, 10th, 3. Three hours 
afterwards, a considerable aggravation occur- 
red. The moral symptoms especially were 
carried to such an extent, that a cup of coffee 
was administered. This antidote had very 



77 

little effect, for the symptoms remained 
equally severe during two days. On the 
third day, however, there was an improve- 
ment; the tensive pressure of the hypochon- 
dria, and especially the moral condition were 
sensibly ameliorated. It became clear that 
the moral affection was closely connected in 
this patient with that of the abdomen; for, in 
proportion as the pains in the hypochondria 
reappeared, the disposition of the mind chang- 
ed also. He was left for eight days under 
the operation of conium, administering only 
a little milk and water each day, in order to 
satisfy his desire of taking something. 

The conclusion of this period was followed 
by constipation and loss of appetite, which 
led to the prescription of nux, 10th, 3; but 
the nux vomica had no effect, although it was 
the first dilution. Recourse was then had to 
lachesis, 10th, 2, which was more successful; 
although it did not agree perfectly with the 
moral state, it accorded well with the primi- 
tive affection, its action being remarkably 
powerful upon the function of the venous 
system, or rather of the nervous system that 
influences it. Three doses were then admi- 
nistered, one every third day; an exhibition 
peculiar to lachesis, which requires to be 
repeated till the development of a manifest 
action, which we must be especially careful 
f2 



78 

not to disturb, even when it appears after the 
first dose. There is not in fact any medicine 
likely to do so much mischief as lachesis: it 
is one of the best polychrests we possess, but 
at the same time, one of the most dangerous 
when improperly applied, or repeated too 
frequently. In repeating a dose of lachesis, 
great attention must be paid to the moral 
condition, the sleep and the appetite: if all 
be right in this respect, we may repeat the 
dose with confidence, although fresh symp- 
toms have been exhibited. After these three 
doses of lachesis, nothing was administered 
for fifteen days, in order to leave sufficient 
time for their action to exhaust itself. It was 
then found that the symptoms for staphys. 
and natr. carb. were indicated, which was 
prescribed in dose 10th, 3. These remedies 
concluded the treatment, and the patient was 
perfectly cured after two months application 
of the homoeopathic system, without recurring 
to a course of mineral water which his medi- 
cal attendant had advised. 

Experience has proved that nux vomica, 
£4th, is peculiarly efficacious against this 
disease, especially when it is caused by the 
use of heating drinks, such as wine, spirits, 
strong beer and coffee, by the influence of 
sedentary habits and of prolonged study, by 
the hardness of the fcecal matter, worms, 



79 

pregnancy, swelling of the abdominal viscera, 
organic injuries of the rectum and neighbour- 
ing parts. When it has for symptoms con- 
siderable excrescences which are the seat of 
burning and shooting pains, a sense of strang- 
ling in the rectum, narrowness of that vis- 
cus, joined to dull and darting pains felt by 
shocks in the loins and hip-bones; a pain as 
of cracking in the loins on the slightest move- 
ment, which causes the patient to cry out, 
and does not permit him to remain erect or 
to walk except in a bent position, a flow of 
pure and clear blood after alvine evacu- 
ations, or accompanied by desire of evacu- 
ation. 

Case. — Mr. S., aged thirty, of strong con- 
stitution and very corpulent, had for some 
years been afflicted with a hemorrhoidal af- 
fection, characterized by swelling and thick- 
ening of the hemorrhoidal veins accompanied 
with constipation and strangury. The use 
of leeches applied to the part almost every 
month afforded the patient a temporary relief, 
but the disease grew worse and each time it 
became necessary to apply the leeches at 
shorter intervals. He exhibited the follow- 
ing symptoms: vertigo, confusion of ideas, 
throbbing pains in the temples as if nails 
were being driven in, face pale and puffed, 



80 

contraction and slight convulsive movement 
of the eye-lids, singing in the ears, tongue 
whitish, the patient having a sensation as if it 
were contracted, thirst and desire for cooling 
drinks. In the morning, vomiting of slimy 
acid matter, mucus in the mouth. Six hours 
after dinner, rejection of food taken, either 
wholly or partially, with sensation of weight 
in the occiput, numbness of the right arm, 
especially of the third and fourth fingers, 
(these symptoms disappeared when every 
thing was thrown off the stomach,) indiges- 
tion, acid eructations, flatulence, constipa- 
tion, continual desire to micturate, urine 
voided by drops with sensation of heat at the 
prostate gland, occasionally bloody, palpita- 
tions of the heart or coeliac arteries after 
repose; sensation of oppression at the chest, 
compelling the patient to take long inspira- 
tions, numbness in the shoulders, arms and 
legs, starting and nightmare at the com- 
mencement of sleep; lassitude, weakness, 
feeling of languor in the stomach, constant 
drowsiness, great want of prolonged sleep, 
yawning, sensation of cold, restlessness, ner- 
vous depression. 

Nux vomica, 30th, was prescribed, and a 
second dose three days afterwards, from 
which he received great benefit; afterwards 
sulphur^ graphites, silicea, 30th, re-established 



81 

his health at the end of two months, and also 
removed the excessive obesity resulting un- 
doubtedly from a morbific cause. 

Case II. — A female, aged twenty-eight, 
of arterio-lymphatic temperament, in whom 
from the age of seventeen, menstruation had 
always been attended by violent abdominal 
spasms, and almost incessant vomiting of bile 
and mucus during the first days. These 
symptoms she attributed to a fall sometime 
previous. She was in the following state: — 

Local Affection. — The patient complained 
of violent burning and throbbing pains, with 
fulness, at the rectum, hemorrhoidal tumours 
appeared at each evacuation, no relief was 
obtained oftener than once in eight days, with 
much pain. 

Sympathetic Affections. — Pressive pain in 
the forehead and occiput, coryza, loss of ap- 
petite, clammy taste in the mouth, leucor- 
rhoea, a few days before and after the cata- 
menia, contusive pains in the limbs, excessive 
sensibility to external impressions, extreme 
excitability of the whole nervous system, ten- 
dency to anger and ill-humour, sleep broken 
by alarming dreams. 

All these symptoms indicated nux, which 
was administered (10th, 3.) The first dose 
speedily produced a good effect; the appetite 



82 

improved, sleep became tranquil, and the 
leucorrhoea soon disappeared. It may be 
said that these phenomena would have occur- 
red of their own accord simply under the 
influence of diet; but to meet this objection 
it must here be stated that the patient had 
frequently subjected herself to a much more 
severe regimen without obtaining any suc- 
cessful result. At the end of fifteen days as 
there were still remains of head-ache, and the 
hemorrhoidal tumour occasionally protruded, 
sepia, 10th, 3, was administered. Three 
weeks afterwards, in order to remove the 
pimples from the face, and destroy the predo- 
minant venosity, was prescribed sulph. 8th, 
3, which produced the desired effect. 

In these cases a distinction is made be- 
tween local and sympathetic affections, and 
this method will save students a vast deal of 
trouble in the examination of the patient and 
the selection of the remedy. In combining 
the primitive affection with the moral state, 
and guided by the combined appearance of 
the symptoms, selecting the best homoeopa- 
thic remedy, it is almost impossible to go 
wrong. There are cases in which we find no 
organ or system specially affected, and con- 
sequently we cannot distinguish between the 
local and sympathetic affection, though both 
are in existence. In such a case, a beginner 



83 

should administer sulphur and belladonna, 
alternately at suitable intervals until the suf- 
ferings are relieved or the symptoms appear 
more marked, guided by which we can easily 
discover the proper remedy. Salphur may 
also be administered at intervals of two, four, 
six, or eight days, according to the suscepti- 
bility of the patient. The selection of dilu- 
tions may be regulated in the same way. A 
susceptible patient is often acted upon as 
strongly by a very small dose as another not 
easily affected will be by the strongest. Pe- 
culiarity of constitution can alone decide the 
point, and hence so many opinions upon this 
important subject. In this matter all de- 
pends upon the extent of the patient's suscep- 
tibility, and this is the reason why hypochon- 
driacs are frequently so long before they 
experience any effect. 

Case. — In the case of a young female, at 
the end of her sixth accouchement, after two 
attacks of intermittent fever, the inflamma- 
tion of the hemorrhoidal tumours extended 
between the ninth and the thirteenth day, 
gradually to the following extent: the orifice 
of the anus swollen in a round and thick 
bunch, divided by furrows into three unequal 
parts, one being the size of a small egg, the 
others of a nutmeg. The tumours were of a 



84 

bluish red, hard, hot, shining and extremely 
painful when touched. The patient suffered 
extreme pain in the part, as if it were exco- 
riated, accompanied by violent pricking and 
shooting pains. The latter occurred from 
time to time in paroxysms, and produced 
involuntary exclamations. The patient was 
unable to sit, turned herself with difficulty, 
and always with increased pain. Muriatic 
acid, 3d, gutta, 2, cured her in ten days. 

Case. — A lad aged thirteen, who was in 
other respects in good health, had for several 
years been suffering incessantly from hemor- 
rhoids, in the cure of which all allopathic 
treatment had been found ineffectual. The 
affection was manifested by the following 
symptoms: infrequent evacuations, extremely 
painful, every third or fourth day; several 
tumours appearing at each motion with con- 
siderable loss of blood, in addition, they bled 
frequently during the day. Nux vomica and 
ignatia (several doses) produced regularity 
of evacuations, so that they occurred every 
day and completely free from pain. Nitric 
acid, 15th, administered at short intervals 
during several weeks successively, stopped 
the flow of blood, the tumours gradually 
appeared less frequently and finally ceased 
altogether. The same success has been ob- 



85 

tained by administering daily a tea-spoonful 
of ammon. carbonic. 10th, gl. 3, dissolved in 
six ounces of water. 

Before antipsorics were known, says Hart- 
mann, I always regarded bryony (4th, and 
6th,) as an invaluable remedy in cases of he- 
morrhoidal tumours, and even at the present 
time, I by no means reject it, although nu- 
merous antipsorics are more efficacious in 
these affections. Its salutary influence is 
remarkably observable when the patient com- 
plains of burning pain in the lower part of 
the rectum, after evacuation, and when pain 
leaves him slowly. Its indication is still 
more certain when the patient suffers from 
fulness on the left side of the loins, and this 
fulness degenerates during movement into 
lancinating pressive pain, relieved only by 
rest, and announced by too great a flow of 
blood. 

A description of pain in the stomach, of 
frequent occurrence in persons suffering from 
hemorrhoids, after the apparition of tumours 
at the anus, may here be mentioned. It is 
also frequently met with in pregnant women, 
who during their pregnancy have been sub- 
ject to varicose veins of the legs, which after 
delivery, cause considerable pain, and are 
often accompanied by head-ache, diminished 
by rest and increased by motion. 



86 

Case. — A woman aged forty-eight, and the 
mother of several children, had been afflicted 
since her last accouchement with hemorrhoid- 
al tumours. These tumours bled several 
times in the year, with good effect. Suddenly 
however moral causes occurred to aggravate 
the affection which then presented the follow- 
ing condition. 

Itching and heat at the anus, shooting pains 
in the rectum; frequent tenesmus, sensation 
of fulness in the abdomen; six small tumours 
of different sizes, round and oval shape, of a 
bright red, extremely painful, inability to sit 
down, evacuations accompanied with much 
pain. 

Compresses steeped in decoction of camo- 
mile, were applied to the parts, and admi- 
nistered internally a small portion of the ca- 
momile extract. At the end of twenty-four 
hours, all the symptoms were diminished, 
and on the fourth day all trace of disease had 
vanished. 



87 



ENTERITIS, OR INFLAMMATION OF 
THE INTESTINAL CANAL. 

Aconite possesses virtues both powerful 
and prompt in salutary operation when em- 
ployed in inflammation of the intestines, 
bladder, lungs, &c. In enteritis the effica- 
ciousness and speedy operation of its curative 
effects, seem to be developed in direct pro- 
portion to the intensity of the inflammatory 
symptoms, the violence and extent of the 
fever, the power and acuteness of the pains, 
tensive darting or shooting, for the more 
intense the symptoms are, the delirium, and 
respiration short and difficult, the fewer ner- 
vous symptoms present themselves, aconite, 
10th, becomes more energetic and indispen- 
sable. 

Case. — In the month of September, 1838, 
a young person aged fourteen, having taken 
cold after being much heated, had been seiz- 
ed with very severe enteritis. In spite of all 
the allopathic means which had been used, 
such as leeches, of which eighty-seven were 
applied during the first six days, fomenta- 
tions, emollient cataplasms, liniments with 
oil of henbane and tincture of opium, emol- 



88 

lient and slightly laxative lavements, bathing 
of the lower extremities, emulsions and calo- 
mel, finally joined with opium, the disease 
instead of decreasing, increased daily up to 
the seventh, at which time the patient was all 
but dead. Jlconite, 8th, 3, was prescribed to 
be repeated every three hours during the 
night. The next morning, the eighth of the 
disease, the young patient was much better. 
For the first time since the commencement of 
the disease, she had slept for quarters and 
half hours at a time during the night; the 
constant vomiting accompanying the taking 
of food, had ceased; the pains in the lower 
part of the abdomen, which had been pre- 
viously incessant, had almost entirely depart- 
ed; the abdomen was but little sensitive to 
the touch, less swollen, and distended; the 
fever, previously incessant, was fast subsid- 
ing, and this complete change occurred with- 
out any crisis by perspiration. The patient 
again took a few doses of aconite during the 
day. The following morning she was per- 
fectly free from danger. 

This homoeopathic case astonished her 
friends not a little. Still I could not per- 
suade myself that it was attributable to the 
administering of aconite in such small doses. 
I rather thought it ought to be considered as 
a consequent effect of the antiphlogistic 



89 

treatment previously adopted, although this 
hypothesis was weakened by the absence of 
any crisis, and a crisis of some kind will 
generally occur in inflammatory diseases of 
this nature. 

The entire recovery of the patient was 
long: she was very weak, and was unable to 
walk without assistance before the expiration 
of three weeks. During the fourth week, she 
exposed herself carelessly to cold air, and 
that brought on the same disease again. In- 
cessant pains in the umbilical region, increas- 
ed by the slightest pressure, painful eructa- 
tions, frequent vomiting of a yellowish-green 
matter, constipation, pulse small, quick and 
hard, general heat, thirst, continued agitation 
and anxiety, sufficiently announced a case of 
enteritis. The parents of the patient re- 
quested that recourse should be had to ho- 
moeopathy: aconite, 8th, 3, was administered. 
A quarter of an hour had scarcely transpired 
before the patient fell into a quiet sleep that 
lasted more than three hours; upon awaken- 
ing she felt herself relieved; she no longer 
complained of any of the previous symptoms, 
but wished to leave her bed, which however 
she was not allowed to do till the following 
day. 

Affections of this kind when treated allo- 
pathically, continue generally from seven to 
g2 



90 

nine days before there is any vast improve- 
ment. I was therefore not a little astonished 
at so prompt a cure by a single dose of 
aconite, without any exhibition internal or 
external of allopathic remedies. 

A careful perusal of the annexed case will 
convince the reader that, in certain cases, 
nigella sativa, has an incontestible advantage 
over aconite. 

A female aged twenty-seven years, the 
mother of three children, who had enjoyed 
uninterrupted good health with the exception 
of measles and scarlet fever when young, was 
attacked with violent enteritis, which during 
four days baffled copious bleedings, and the 
usual remedies. The state of the patient was 
as follows: violent febrile action at night, 
head confused, diminution of sensibility, ten- 
dency to ill-humour, indifference, great anx- 
iety alternately with a sensation of heat and 
tension, inability to preserve an upright posi- 
tion, trembling, disordered vision, difficulty 
in moving the eyes, sensation of paralysis in 
the eye-lids, violent buzzing in the ears, 
dryness of the nose, with sensation of cold, 
sinking of the features, face of a red colour, 
lips pale and trembling, tongue red, dry and 
furred, with difficulty of moving it, speech 
muttering and unintelligible, as in cases of 
paralysis, rancid taste in the mouth, no se- 



91 

cretion of saliva, loss of appetite, sensation of 
fulness, without any desire to vomit, pressure 
at the stomach with tensive pain, palpitation 
in the region of the stomach, contraction of 
the abdomen, pressure at the anus, respira- 
tion slow, deep and noisy, gaping, moaning, 
deep and pressive pain in the chest, occa- 
sional cough, palpitations of the heart, swell- 
ing of the abdomen, tension and extreme 
sensibility of the part when touched, and 
violent darting pains when leant upon, swell- 
ing in a direction toward the inguinal region, 
shooting with pricking pains, on the slightest 
touch, decrease of urinary secretion, occa- 
sionally accompanied with heat, borborygmi 
in the hypogastrium, ulcerative pains, immo- 
bility of the legs, sensation of curvature in 
the loins, occasionally violent burning heat 
followed by cold, great agitation, loss of 
sleep, frequent sighing, moaning, indolence, 
with great irritability of the nervous system. 
The symptoms of enteritis were clearly 
developed, and the disease was so advanced 
that slight hopes remained of cure. Less re- 
liance was to be placed on aconite, than upon 
those remedies adopted to oppose nervous 
symptoms. Neither nux vomica nor bryony 
appearing suitable, nigella, 6th, gl. 1, was 
administered. At first, it did not appear to 
produce any favourable effect; at the end of 



92 

one hour, all the symptoms were increased: 
delirium, with extreme heat at the back part 
of the head, continual jactitation, cries, respi- 
ration short and quick, unquenchable thirst 
with burning heat, violent pains in the abdo- 
men towards the loins, sharp cutting gnawing 
pains in the intestines, involuntary move- 
ments in bed, requiring the patient to be 
held down. At the end of two hours, these 
affections diminished, the head was relieved, 
accompanied by repose, tranquillity and gene- 
ral improvement. Towards evening, increase 
of symptoms, but in a slight degree and for a 
shorter period, soon succeeded by drowsiness 
and tolerably quiet sleep, disturbed only by 
agitating dreams, involuntary startings and 
inarticulate words. The patient passed a 
quiet night. The following morning, with 
the exception of shooting and tensive pains 
in the abdomen, and excessive weakness, the 
patient was tolerably well, and complained 
only of dull pressive head-ache in the fore- 
head, with rather sharp pains in the occiput, 
thirst, and dislike to food. A second globule 
was administered, which produced a very 
short aggravation of the symptoms, especially 
of the head-ache, whilst the tensive and dart- 
ing pain in the abdomen was succeeded by 
shooting pains. The febrile exacerbation of 
the evening was also less violent; nux 9 10th, 



93 

gl. 1, was administered. The next morning, 
the patient said she had slept well and sound- 
ly, and that she felt tolerably strong; all the 
pains in the head had departed, when she felt 
only a sensation of vacuity; there was no 
sensation of heat or cold, respiration free, 
ordinary tone of voice, very slight thirst, 
tongue moist, a little white at the edges, but 
no redness, natural taste, desire for food, 
sensation of emptiness in the stomach, occa- 
sional eructations without pain, plentiful 
evacuations, hard and of a dark colour, de- 
parture of pains and swelling of the abdomen, 
only in sitting up in bed shooting pains with 
tension in the coecal region. On the sixth 
day, the patient was free from any irregu- 
larity excepting ordinarily, in the evening, a 
shooting and pressive head-ache at the back 
part of the head. Strength however soon 
returned under the influence of a generous 
diet, the appetite was restored, the patient 
had two evacuations daily, and slept well 
during the night. From this time, the cure 
was complete.* 

* Enteritis has been successfully treated where 
there has been violent cutting pain in the umbilical 
region, painfully distended abdomen, hard, corded 
pulse, hot, dry skin, thirst and hurried respiration, 
with aeon, and bell. — where the above symptoms were 
accompanied with constipation and stercoraceous 



94 



DIARRHCEA. 

This is a prompt and repeated evacuation 
of humours secreted in a defective manner, 
and in too great abundance, with or without 
a mixture of fcecal matter. It is often only 
a slight indisposition, without danger; but it 
may also be accompanied by pains and fever, 
may degenerate into another malady, and 
may have very serious consequences if it is 
not suitably treated. Its most common cause 
is cold or intemperance in eating or drinking. 
Its accessory symptoms are the partial or 
total loss of appetite, cardialgia, swelling and 
tension of the abdomen, borborygmi, dryness 
and coldness of the skin, thirst, scanty 
secretion of the kidneys, depression, irregu- 
larity and intermittent arterial pulsations, 
cutting and tearing pain, frequently in one 
part, sometimes in another, with an inclina- 
tion to vomit, which disappears to return 
again at the end of a few minutes. Long and 
violent diarrhoeas cause burning in the rec- 

vomiting, aeon, and opium have been successful, — 
where the stomach is irritable, attended with nausea 
and vomiting, aeon., ant. cried., ant. tart, and coloc, 
generally produce relief. 



95 

turn, tenesmus, great weaknes, alterations in 
the features and even faintings. 

Dulcamara, 24th, is an infallible remedy 
against aqueous diarrhoeas which arise from 
cold, and are not accompanied either with 
pains in the abdomen or any other accessory 
indisposition. 

To diarrhoea arising from cold must be op- 
posed china, 12th, when the evacuations are 
of an acrid and clear liquid, without mixture 
of fcecal matter, are preceded by violent 
colics, by spasmodic and pressive pains in 
the intestines, eructations, borborygmi, and 
by a sensation of weakness in the abdomen. 

Case. — A man aged eighty one, in full 
possession of his intellectual faculties, though 
of a delicate constitution, generally healthy 
and of regular habits, was seized in the au- 
tumn of 1836, without any perceptible cause, 
with a serious disease; after a few days, 
during which the disease had continued to 
increase, I was called in to prescribe. 

For the last two days, and especially at 
night, a very copious diarrhoea, watery and 
mucous; the patient voided what little food 
he took undigested; he had frequent vo- 
mitings of mucus, water and aliments, with 
sour and bitter taste; however small the 
quantity of liquids or solids, he instantly 



96 

experienced painful pressure in the abdomen, 
and especially at the region of the stomach, 
with oppression at the chest, followed by 
eructations which gave some relief. No ap- 
petite, constant feeling of fulness, and an 
insurmountable antipathy to what he was 
previously most fond of. Sleep broken, ex- 
haustion amounting almost to syncope, pulse 
quick and rather hard; anxiety, restlessness 
and agitation. 

Nothing was so well suited to this indi- 
vidual case of disease as bark. Every thing 
indicated it, his physical as well as his moral 
condition. Bark in solution was consequently 
administered, at ten in the morning. 

The next day, the patient's condition was 
altered considerably for the better. No diar- 
rhoea, nor vomiting; the patient had enjoyed a 
good night's rest; his appetite was somewhat 
better; he speedily recovered his usual tone 
of body and mind; and in a few days he was 
restored to as perfect health as was compati- 
ble with his age. 

A lady, advanced in years, had been for 
some weeks suffering severely from continu- 
ed diarrhoea. She had taken all possible 
domestic medicines, and even applied to 
several allopathic physicians. She was then 
very pale, thin and weak. She could eat but 
little, and almost instantly voided the food 



97 

undigested; thirst extreme. Six doses of 
china, 11th, one every three hours, having 
produced no effect, one drop of tinct. ratan- 
hise, was administered night and morning. 
At the end of four days, the complaint had 
subsided; but the remedy was continued, 
since which time she has had no relapse. 

If the cold is caused by night air, and pro- 
duces a pinching at the pit of the stomach, 
borborygmi, a feeling of relaxation as if eva- 
cuation were about to take place, a cutting 
and tearing pain with pressure in the abdo- 
men, which is cold, nausea, shivering, sudden 
and frequent desire to evacuate, at first 
without result, and afterwards with excre- 
tions, frequent, aqueous and green, with dis- 
position to fainting, it is desirable to admi- 
nister mercury, 12th. 

If diarrhoea arises from errors of regimen, 
and manifests itself by loss of appetite, with 
sensation of dryness, &c, of slight burning of 
the tongue without thirst, a bitter and saltish 
taste in the mouth, eructations foetid, hic- 
cough, nausea, and vomiting, fulness of the 
abdomen, colic, much flatulence, commotion 
of the intestines, urgent desire to relieve the 
bowels, inquietude, with frequent evacu- 
ations, pulsatilla, 12th, is the best remedy. 

Chamomilla, 12th, is employed successfully 
against diarrhoeas which arise from anger, 

H 



98 

accompanied by bitter taste in the mouth, 
eructations, a sensation of fulness at the pit 
of the stomach, pressive pain in the head, 
general weakness, frequent evacuations of 
green, aqueous, acrid and foetid matter. 

Pains in the abdomen violent, tearing, 
which leave no rest to the patient, and oblige 
him to twist himself, a sensation as if the ab- 
domen were entirely empty, with continual 
movement of the intestines, blue circles 
round the eyes, nausea, vomiting, evacuations 
watery, mucous and foetid, are symptoms 
requiring the employment of chamomilla, 
12th. 

Those which result from fear, anxiety, and 
generally from strong emotions, yield readily 
to opium, 6 th. 

Case. — A man aged forty, previously in 
the enjoyment of good health, was seized 
suddenly during the night with violent colic 
and continued diarrhoea; next day, things 
remained in the same state; and in the even- 
ing I was sent for. I found the patient in 
bed, very weak, his breath affected when 
speaking, and he complained of alternations 
of cold and heat. Evacuations occurred very 
frequently, preceded by pains in the abdo- 
men; they were discharged with violence and 
were altogether aqueous; at the same time 



99 

there was much flatus in the abdomen, with 
nausea and excessive thirst. Had cholera 
existed in the vicinity, the patient might have 
been thought to be slightly affected with it. 
From the general appearance of his face, it 
was evident that the abdominal nervous sys- 
tem was considerably affected. Half a grain 
of arsenic was pounded with two scruples of 
sugar, and divided into fifteen powders, one 
to be taken every hour as long as the exhaust- 
ing diarrhoea continued. At the same time a 
slight emulsion of almonds was prescribed as 
a beverage in very small draughts. From 
the moment he took the arsenic, he had only 
six diarrhoeal evacuations. He fell asleep, 
but not into a sound sleep before midnight, 
and had no evacuation during the night. In 
the morning, he had slept well, and, though 
very weak, felt more easy; the skin was 
moist, and thirst less violent. The same 
remedy was continued, but more slowly, 
recommending him to discontinue it if the 
diarrhoea did not return; and he continued to 
improve. With the exception of the weak- 
ness and anorexia, the patient recovered ra- 
pidly. A few doses of the sixth of a grain of 
nux vomica cured him completely. 

Diarrhoea in Women, — As this complaint 
frequently arises from cold, it is advisable to 
keep the stomach w T arm, in order to aid the 



100 

action of dulcam. 8 th, which is a specific in 
such cases. If the diarrhoea arises from the 
stomach being overcharged, or from fat food, 
prescribe pulsat. 6th, and sometimes anti- 
mon. ci\ 10th, gi. 1. If it be accompanied 
by pains in the stomach, and the excretions 
be watery, it will be necessary to recur to 
chamomilla, 4th, gl. 2. When there is 
tenesmus and frequent evacuations, small in 
quantity, mucous and bloody, it may almost 
always be removed by mere. soL 4th, some- 
times also by sulph. 10th, which is remarka- 
bly useful in obstinate and habitual diarrhoeas. 
In certain cases phosph. and petrol, deserve 
preference. If the complexion be very yel- 
low and sallow, lycop. 10th, may be success- 
fully used. 

The following case proves the necessity of 
carefully observing the characteristic symp- 
toms of a disease before the application of the 
remedy. My own wife, says a homoeopathic 
practitioner, who was very subject to diar- 
rhoea arising from cold, complained in the 
morning of violent griping pains, tendency to 
vomiting and looseness. As I had frequently 
cured her in similar cases with dulcamara, I 
did not hesitate to administer it: but finding- 
no improvement in her condition in the space 
of an hour, I administered veratrum album 
without any more beneficial effect. Another 



101 

hour elapsed, when by careful observation 
1 found that the diarrhoea was accompanied 
by tenesmus. I then gave her mere, solub. 
Five minutes afterwards she fell asleep, and 
awoke in half an hour free from all pain and 
diarrhcea. The sleep convinced me that I 
had selected the proper remedy, as it is 
always consequent upon the administration of 
good specifics. 

Whenever the patient falls into a sleep or 
even a state of dozing immediately after tak- 
ing the remedy prescribed, we may safely 
prognosticate a cure; it does not however fol- 
low that sleep must necessarily precede the 
removal of disease. 

In dysenteric diarrhoea, sharp, shooting 
and griping pains in the abdomen; violent 
pain in the back and loins; pressure at the 
stomach after eating; eight or ten evacuations 
daily; ejection of a small quantity of white 
mucus, followed by tenesmus; constant but 
ineffectual attempts to evacuate; alternations 
of cold and heat; the former especially; 
thirst, &c; was removed by belladonna. The 
patient, a female, at other times quiet and 
good-tempered, was very irritable and con- 
tinually crying. 

In chronic diarrhcea with eruption of itch- 
ing pimples on the body, and leucorrhcea, 
emetic tart, was successful. 
h2 



102 

Diarrhoea in Children. — An infant, thirteen 
weeks old, had been crying incessantly for 
days, suffering from green diarrhoea, some- 
times mucous, and at others watery. The 
family attendant administered an infusion of 
camomile and opium in fennel water from 
time to time, because the child refused all 
food and even fluids. For the last two or 
three days, he dosed with the eyes half open; 
the veins of the head were full of blood; at 
times he awoke starting from his sleep, cried 
violently and exhibited extreme restlessness. 
The medical attendant finding him very 
weak, began to doubt if he would live through 
the night. After a few doses of coff. 3d, 1, 
belladonna, 10th, 2, and one of nux vomica, 
10th, 1, employed as an antidote to the 
opium, matters returned in three days to 
their primitive state. The diarrhoea, rest- 
lessness, and griping were speedily remov- 
ed by a single dose of senna, 2nd, 3. The 
child recovered its health ten days after- 
wards. 

Ipecacuanha is useful in serous diarrhoea in 
children, accompanied by vomiting of a green 
or white mucus, with griping pains in the ab- 
domen. 

In those acute diarrhoeas in children de- 
scribed as relaxation of the stomach and the 
intestinal canal, the diarrhoea is established 



103 

without any perceptible cause. Evacuations 
copious and more or less frequent, according 
to the intensity of the disease, consisting of 
aqueous mucous matter, sometimes greenish, 
and at others greyish, of foetid smell. At the 
same time, slight fever, heat in the palms of 
the hands and soles of the feet, incessant 
thirst, loss of appetite, rapid wasting of the 
body, constant agitation, moaning and weep- 
ing, paleness and dryness of the skin without 
turgescence, abdomen very sensitive, puffed, 
elastic, occasional vomiting, urine small in 
quantity and colourless, sleep comatose or 
light, eyes half closed. The patient remains 
in this state from three to five days. 

A few doses of cede. acet. gl. 1, suppressed 
the incessant and copious evacuations, and 
the child, which was previously almost a 
skeleton, soon became florid and ruddy. In 
another case, in addition to chalk, mere. sol. 
was administered with good effect. 

In the most acute form of this disease 9 
especially when attended by violent pains in 
the abdomen, colocynthis is undoubtedly the 
first and best remedy. 

In children towards the fourth month, 
those green diarrhoeas, attributed to acidity in 
the primse vide, or to dentition, are often 
observed. The disease appears to depend 
upon some particular anomaly of the biliary 



104 

secretion, the causes of which are unknown. 
The evacuations are more or less frequent, of 
a vegetable green, sometimes watery, at other 
times and more generally mucous, frothy, 
like the white of an egg, and occasionally 
mixed with sanguinolent mucus. The chil- 
dren cry very frequently, from griping pains, 
abdomen swollen, with loss of substance. In 
such cases, mercury has been found an inva- 
luable specific. Sometimes diarrhoeas occur 
in children of more advanced age, that suc- 
cessfully resist various modes of treatment 
for a long time. Suddenly aphthae appear, 
and in a few days mercury removes both the 
diarrhcea and the sores. Generally speaking, 
diarrhoea in children depends upon a sub- 
inflammatory state of the mucous intestinal 
membrane.* 

Ferrum carbonicum is useful in diarrhcea, 
especially in children. When the disease 
has existed for some time, after eating or 
drinking there are speedy aqueous evacu- 
ations without pain or effort, containing al- 
most always a certain quantity of undigested 
food, accompanied with paleness of the face, 
loss of substance, hardness and swelling of 
the abdomen, without flatulence, sometimes 



* In diarrhoea of children, with a very bad smell, 
rheum has been found particularly useful. 



105 

voracious appetite, and at others total loss, 
thirst, &c. 

In chronic dysenteric diarrhoea in children 
accompanied with violent griping pains, great 
thirst, loss of substance and slow fever, arsen. 
alb. is very efficient. 

In cases of neglected diarrhoea in children 
during their first dentition, when they void a 
brown liquid five or six times every day, 
become extremely thin and yellow, and there 
is loss of appetite, with enlargement of the 
abdomen, ars. 10th, gl. 1. is frequently suc- 
cessful. In one case, a single dose was suffi- 
cient; in other cases, the dose was repeated 
every three days; but in no case more than 
four times. 

Dulcamara is useful in diarrhoeas with 
which children are attacked during dentition, 
and to which are often joined fever and loss 
of appetite. 



DYSENTERY. 

Mercury is the principal remedy in this 
disease, and has been found extremely effica- 
cious in two epidemics. The disease was 



106 

mostly simple dysentery, commencing with 
shivering and cold, with alternations of heat, 
with pain in the abdomen and watery evacu- 
ations as in ordinary diarrhoea: but very soon 
the fever increased with cold, heat, thirst, 
head-ache, and general depression, and the 
evacuations assumed a dysenteric character. 
In the midst of extreme pains, occurring at 
very short intervals, with violent tenesmus, 
pain and burning heat, there were evacu- 
ations of small quantities of blood and mucus. 
The tongue was more or less furred and dry, 
with loss of appetite and pains in the limbs. 
In many cases, especially in children, the 
discharges were accompanied with masses of 
dark green mucus, which occurred more or 
less frequently every quarter of an hour, with 
tenesmus. Many patients required only one 
dose of mercury pulv. 3d, gl. 1. Others re- 
quired several doses. 

The wonderfully prompt operation of sub- 
limate in autumnal dysentery in adults, has 
frequently been witnessed. A few doses of 
the sixth dilution were sufficient to stop the 
most violent attacks. In colics and diar- 
rhoeas, the proper homoeopathic remedies such 
as colocynth, aloes, and rheum, have been no 
less successful. 

A man was sufferins; severelv as follows: — 
The affection commenced with cold and heat, 



107 

anxiety, diarrhoea, spasms in the abdomen, 
violent pain in the loins, tenesmus, and void- 
ing of a small quantity of blood. The reme- 
dies applied, antiphlogistics, did not diminish 
the disease; on the contrary, the anxiety, 
tenesmus and thirst increased; every ten mi- 
nutes the patient vomited sanguineous mucus 
mixed with blood. On the third day, he took 
sublimate, 16th, which in a few days entirely 
removed the symptoms. 

In dysentery in a child eighteen months 
old, who had previously suffered from humid 
tetter, the dysentery had baffled allopathic 
treatment. The child, which was previously 
strong and healthy, grew pale and thin at the 
end of three weeks, and ejected sanguineous 
mucus without particular suffering several 
times a day. A few doses of baryta effected 
its speedy removal. 

A female, aged twenty-three, of phlegmatic 
temperament, was seized, in consequence of 
eating unripe fruit and other errors in regi- 
men, with discharge of blood, to which she at 
first paid no attention. The skin was dry; 
there were sharp, shooting pains in the abdo- 
men; thirst, bitter taste in the mouth, tenes- 
mus, bilious evacuations streaked with blood. 
A very small dose of tartar, emetic, removed 
it in three or four days. 

In the beginning of July, an epidemic 



108 

dysentery broke out, consisting of three pe- 
riods. 

First Stage. — Attack: some were seized 
with giddiness, scarcely able to stand, heavi- 
ness of the head, griping pains in the abdo- 
men; others with colic, nausea, pricking in 
various parts of the stomach. A patient 
complained of compression of the brain, and 
violent head-ache, especially about the fore- 
head, shooting pains and fulness of the orbits, 
especially when he held down his head. — 
Progress: after twelve or even twenty-four 
hours, painful tenesmus, useless attempts, or 
evacuation very small in quantity, of a frothy 
mucous matter, mixed at times with blood, 
during which the patient suffered severely 
from a feeling as if the intestines were com- 
pressed. Colic and pain in the abdomen, 
bending the patient almost double. Frothy 
evacuations of a yellowish colour, similar 
to saffron. Desire to evacuate every five or 
ten minutes, accompanied by painful tenes- 
mus, pulse small and depressed, face sunk, 
weakness and trembling of the limbs, with 
anxiety. 

Second Stage.— -Two or three days after 
the commencement of the disease, all the 
symptoms that affected the head and abdo- 
men grew worse, accompanied by a sensation 
of burning and pricking at the stomach, 



109 

with vomiting, especially during evacuations. 
These were blackish and foetid; a few mo- 
ments afterwards, violent eructations, inces- 
sant hiccough, painful spasms and cramp of 
the abdomen, inclination to evacuate, some- 
times ineffectual, at others followed by a dis- 
charge of mucous matter, and blood, frequent 
discharge of soft, puriform substances tinged 
with blood, described by the patient as if he 
had voided a mass of substances, attended 
with insupportable pain. Tongue dry and 
rough, thirst, desire for iced water, painful 
lassitude, general spasm, cramp in the calves 
of the legs, trembling and weakness amount- 
ing to paralysis of the legs, cold shivering of 
the back, sensible coldness of the hands and 
feet, and soon after, heat of the forehead and 
head; fever accompanied by dryness of the 
skin, depression and suffering as in approach- 
ing death. Loss of strength, the eyes sunken 
and surrounded by livid circles. Great fall- 
ing away, and occasionally death. 

Third Period. — Evacuations of blackish, 
aqueous matter, eighty to one hundred daily; 
loss of substance and emaciation, general 
coldness and colliquative sweats, delirium, 
insatiable thirst, strong desire for ice, burn- 
ing heat of the mouth and stomach (pyrosis), 
tongue dry, chapped and blackish, teeth black, 
breath cadaverous, face hippocratic, constant 



110 

groaning, violent suspirations and hiccoughs. 
Afterwards tranquillity, cessation of several 
symptoms, apparent improvement in the con- 
dition of the patient; death. 

The remedies deemed advisable in accord- 
ance with the homoeopathic treatment were, 
in the first period, camomile of the tenth 
dilution, colocynth. and corrosive sublimate of 
the thirteenth. Camomile taken in the form 
of globules (one or two every half hour) 
always exercised a salutary but temporary 
influence during the first period of the dis- 
ease; for which reason the patient was never 
left solely to its effects, but there were admi- 
nistered eight or twelve hours afterwards, 
two globules of colocynth, and the patient 
was left for twenty -four hours to its action. 
At the end of this time, there was a sensible 
improvement, and health was re-established 
at the end of a few days. In a case where 
two globules of colocynth were given imme- 
diately on the commencement of the disease, 
a complete cure was performed in twenty- 
four hours. In an epidemic, corrosive sub- 
limate was administered, but it was discon- 
tinued, no proof of its action having been 
witnessed. 

In the second stage, colocynth was found 
again efficacious; beneficial effects were also 
experienced from rhus toxicodendron and sul- 



Ill 

phitric acid. Rhus of the thirteenth dilution 
produced successful results, especially when 
the disease began, from improper allopathic 
treatment, to degenerate into typhus fever. 
In the last stage arsenic of the thirteenth 
dilution appeared to be effective. 

Case I. — A labouring man aged twenty, of 
a strong constitution, had been for two days 
suffering under heaviness of the head, and 
acute pain in the forehead. On the morning 
of July SO, he was seized with violent colic, 
and griping in the abdomen. His efforts 
were incessant, but ineffectual, to relieve the 
bowels, with tenesmus. In the evening, the 
following was the pathological state: vertigo 
similar to that produced by drinking, painful 
heaviness of the head, as if pressed in a vice, 
sudden shooting pains in the eyes, flatulence, 
violent colic as if the intestines were being 
cut, forcing the patient into a bending posi- 
tion, useless efforts and tenesmus, evacu- 
ations of frothy matter mixed with blood and 
mucus, weakness of the legs, pulse slow and 
small, excessive thirst, paleness of the face, 
slight shivering, sensation of cold. Camomile 
of the tenth dilution repeated every three 
hours; colocynth, the following morning. 
Finding that after six hours, the morbid phe- 
nomena were relieved, fresh doses were ab- 



112 

stained from. The following day, the patient 
was quite recovered and able to attend to his 
work. 

Case II. — A man aged twenty-five, was 
seized on the 23d of July, with vertigo and 
head-ache, accompanied with griping pains 
and copious evacuations. On the fifth day of 
the disease were observed the following phe- 
nomena: 

Suborbital cephalalgia, as if the head 
would split, acute pains in various parts of 
the abdomen, flatulence, tenesmus, nausea 
during evacuation, discharge of whitish frothy 
mucus every half hour, mixed with streaks of 
blood, and accompanied by violent pains in 
the abdomen and sacrum, the patient feeling 
as if voiding his intestines. General weak- 
ness of all the limbs, sensation of paralysis, 
depression, eyes and face sunk, pulse small 
and slow. After employing colocynth, repeat- 
ed during the first two days, with rhus and 
sulphuric acid, the patient recovered on the 
eighth day. 

One of his sisters, his eldest brother, and 
two of his daughters were similarly attacked 
with dysentery, accompanied by fever. The 
two daughters were also suffering from 
worms: nevertheless these four persons were 
cured by the use of aconite, camomile, rhus 



113 

and sulphuric acid: the case, however, of 
the elder brother exhibited an instance of the 
danger of bleeding and leeches in this epi- 
demic. 

Case III. — A little girl aged eight years, 
of weak constitution, was seized with dysen- 
tery and exhibited the following symptoms. 

Pain over the right eye-lid, violent colic in 
the epigastrium, evacuations with pain in the 
abdomen, sometimes of mucous blood-stained 
matter with ascarides, at others of bright 
clear blood These evacuations were attend- 
ed with intolerable pain, thirst, general cold- 
ness, paleness, loss of substance, fever in the 
afternoon, ceasing towards evening. Subli- 
mate was administered, and two days after, 
colocynth: no improvement; on the contrary, 
the patient was worse. 

Rhus was prescribed, and a cure was 
effected in the fourth day of the treatment, 
after three doses, being the fifteenth from the 
commencement of the attack. 

Case IV. — A young girl, aged sixteen, of 
rather strong constitution, was first seized 
with dysentery. On the fourteenth day of 
the disease, after she had gone through all 
the stages, it appeared to have degenerated 
into hectic fever. The following were the 
i2 



114 

phenomena observed. Dysenteric evacu- 
ations, constant ejection of liquid matter and 
food, thirst excessive, tongue dry. Dull pain 
in the loins, hiccough, cough, accompanied 
with expulsion of bronchial mucus, remittent 
fever, pulse frequent and weak, slight shiver- 
ing at night, fetid, clammy perspiration in 
the morning; during the remainder of the day 
skin dry and rough. Sensation of internal 
heat, extreme thinness or rather emaciation. 
Pulsatilla repeated during three days. The 
sixth day arsenic and nitric acid alternately 
every six days. I had the satisfaction of 
finding that the young patient recovered com- 
pletely in eighteen days. 



SPORADIC CHOLERA. 

A female was suffering under this disease: 
continual vomiting, first of aliments, after- 
wards of a greenish liquid, with frequent 
diarrhoea, more and more liquid and colour- 
less, violent cutting and shooting pains in the 
abdomen, cramp in the legs, suppression of 
the urinary secretion, rapid decrease of 



115 

strength. Colocynth, 6th, gt. 1, repeated 
every two or three hours, effected its speedy 
removal. 

Veratrum also is successful in sporadic 
cholera. 

A child six months old, of weak constitu- 
tion, had been for three days suffering from 
vomiting and diarrhoea, and was extremely 
weakened. Six doses of veratrum album, 
12th, were administered, one every two or 
three hours. Still no improvement in his 
condition. His body was cold as ice, and 
thirst insatiable. The case was critical. 
Cupr. metallic, 30th, was prescribed, and a 
tea-spoonful was administered every ten or 
fifteen minutes, till these symptoms disap- 
peared. The child was saved, and in a few 
days completely recovered. 



ASIATIC CHOLERA. 

It will not be amiss, if I put before the 
eyes of my readers, the advice given by 
Hahnemann, for the treatment of cholera. It 
is sufficiently simple, concise and easy of ap- 
plication, to be readily understood by every 



116 

person. These instructions were given ex- 
actly as follows. — First, therefore, 1 refer to 
the precautions the medical man should take 
for his own safety. 

Directly epidemic cholera breaks out, eve- 
ry medical man should procure the following 
solution. Put an ounce of camphor in twelve 
ounces of pure spirits of wine, and shake it 
till it is completely dissolved. Before enter- 
ing the patient's room, take two drops of this 
solution as a preservative, and repeat the 
same precaution on entering every patient's 
room to prevent infection from the mephitic 
air confined there. Before entering the 
room, it will be well to wait a few seconds 
in the ante-chamber, a precaution rendered 
necessary by the fatigue the medical man 
suffers from his numerous avocations. If he 
visit his patient in a state of perspiration, he 
is much more likely to receive the contagion. 
Great attention also must be paid to diet, 
that is to say, he should never suffer either 
hunger or thirst, and never overload the sto- 
mach with food or liquid; with respect to the 
choice of food he should take only that which 
possesses undoubted nutritive qualities, with- 
out any exciting properties. But in this he 
must, like his patient, be guided by circum- 
stances, as it would not be discreet to discon- 
tinue, whilst the epidemic is raging, the use 



117 

of wine, tea, coffee, or any other heating arti- 
cle which he had been daily in the habit of 
using. It may be as well to add that the 
medical man should be fully imbued with the 
importance of his functions at these difficult 
times, banish all fear from his mind, be pre- 
pared by reflection for all occurrences, and 
possess great presence of mind. 

Directly a patient is seized with cholera, 
administer one or two drops of the solution 
of camphor before mentioned, on sugar or in 
pure water. Repeat the dose every five mi- 
nutes, whatever the intensity of the disease, 
the camphor should in all cases be adminis- 
tered during the first hour after the com- 
mencement of the attack. As long as the 
patient feels any benefit from the use of the 
camphor it should be continued, and if the 
disease yields to this application no other 
will be necessary. When this, however, is 
not the case, we must be guided in our treat- 
ment by what the symptoms require. If 
there is vomiting, or only tendency that way, 
or if the vomitings are accompanied by ex- 
cruciating pain, agitation and icy coldness, 
the patient should take one or two globules 
of arsenic. If this produces a good effect 
without complete cure, the dose should be 
renewed every two or three hours, according 
to the strength of the patient. 



118 

If the symptoms enumerated above are ac- 
companied by cramps, recourse must be had, 
not to arsenic, but to cuprum, of which two 
globules may be administered, and the dose 
repeated every two hours if necessary. 

The cholera, however, may assume another 
form, its characteristic symptom being fre- 
quently violent diarrhoea. In this case vera- 
trum album must be given, and in this stage 
of the disease, ice may be beneficially used. 
Hahnemann expressly says allow the pa- 
tient as much as he chooses. 

Sometimes a period occurs when the pa- 
tient falls into asphyxia. We must be care- 
ful, however, not to treat him as if dead, 
though he may appear to be so, much less 
consign him to the undertaker. We must 
administer a few drops of carbo vegetabilis in 
water, and at the same time rub the whole of 
the body with ice. 

But if the patient, when actually in as- 
phyxia, has not been previously treated ho- 
mceopathically, the whole external surface of 
the body must be rubbed with camphor, and 
a few drops in a glass of water be poured 
into his mouth, even if he is unable to swal- 
low. 

Persons not suffering under acute cholera, 
and who, though not confined to their beds, 
are affected with cholerine, and experience 



110 

alternately weakness, palpitation, anxiety, 
cramp in the calves of the legs, cold, uneasi- 
ness, sickness, diarrhoea, should take every 
day, or oftener if need be, one or two globules 
of phosphorus to preserve them from infec- 
tion. Persons who are quite free both from 
cholera and cholerine, will do well to submit 
to preservative treatment, for which purpose 
they should take every eight days a globule 
of veratrum album, if diarrhoea be the chief 
characteristic of the disease, and a globule of 
cuprum, if the general symptoms are vomit- 
ing and cramp. 



CHOLERINE. 

During the second invasion of the cholera 
at Berlin, Rome, Marseilles, &c. an epidemic 
broke out which attacked young children 
chiefly, adults not however being exempt 
from it. Although this epidemic did not 
present all the symptoms, nor yet all the 
intensity of cholera, still the character of the 
disease was the same, and this will be evi- 
dent from the following cases. This resem- 
blance induced a recurrence to those reme- 



120 

dies which had frequently been found effica- 
cious in cases of cholera, and the result was 
satisfactory. 

The diarrheal evacuations of the patients 
were whitish, liquid and occasionally blood- 
stained, resembling the juice of meat, a cha- 
racteristic with the exception perhaps of the 
blood, of most choleratic evacuations; they 
were frequently accompanied with tenesmus 
and colic; the patients suffered from nausea 
and sickness; some exhibited a bluish dis- 
coloration round the eyes, nose and mouth. 
The limbs had lost a great portion of their 
natural heat. But of all these symptoms, the 
most singular was the considerable loss of 
substance, and that in a few days; the skin 
became flaccid, by the disappearance of the 
subjacent fat, and lost its elasticity, as in old 
men. Whatever the symptoms were, it is 
certain that in many respects they were simi- 
lar to those of cholera, and also very analo- 
gous to those of epidemic dysentery, The 
major part of the patients had been unsuccess- 
fully treated in the usual manner. 

Case I. — A child, aged eleven months, of 
good constitution, and previously enjoying 
excellent health, had been for six days suf- 
fering under violent colics, with very copious 
diarrhoeal evacuations of a whitish colour, 



121 

very abundant, at times mixed with blood, 
extreme sleeplessness, face pale, eyes sunk, 
tongue dry and furred, sores on the sides of 
the nose, with obstruction of the nostrils, 
extreme thirst, loss of appetite, violent colic, 
with tenesmus causing the child to cry in- 
cessantly. 

The patient free from fever, the skin cold, 
extreme weakness and loss of substance, dis- 
pirited and exhausted. 

On the 28th of August, nux vomica, tenth 
dilution, was prescribed in four ounces of 
distilled water, three spoonsful every day. 
The next morning, 29th, the patient had only 
three evacuations, more cohesive and free 
from blood. Again was administered a tea- 
spoonful of the mixture; and, on the follow- 
ing day, the child was able to sleep, and had 
recovered his playfulness and appetite. 

On the 1st of September, the patient was 
a second time seized with frequent blood- 
stained evacuations, accompanied with con- 
vulsions of the limbs and very violent tenes- 
mus, each evacuation preceded by cries and 
griping pains in the abdomen. On the 
second of September, prescribed veratrum, 
third dilution, in four ounces of distilled 
water, two spoonsful to be taken during the 
day. On the third, the diarrhoea and colic 

K 



122 

were sensibly diminished, and on the fifth the 
patient was perfectly recovered. 

Case II. — A child, aged five months, in 
the enjoyment of general good health, and 
strong for her age, was seized with very co- 
pious diarrhoea towards the end of the month 
of August. For nine days, she had been 
treated in the usual way; opiates and gums 
were administered both by the mouth and 
in lavements. On the first of September, she 
was as follows: — 

Face very pale, eyes sunk and wandering, 
pupils dilated, features distorted, tongue 
dry and white, thirst, loss of appetite, fre- 
quent vomitings, violent colic and copious 
evacuations, discharge of fcecal matter almost 
every minute, loss of substance, skin dry and 
hot. No sleep for several nights, difficulty 
of breathing. 

As an internal remedy, nux vomica was 
prescribed, tenth dilution, in four ounces of 
distilled water, a spoonful every hour. At 
the same time, were applied to the stomach 
flannels soaked in warm water. On the fol- 
lowing day the child was much better, and on 
the third of September entirely cured. 



123 



WORMS 

Most frequently attack women and chil- 
dren, are engendered by bad food, moist and 
unhealthy air, and by everything which fa- 
vours the collection of mucus in the intesti- 
nal canal. Their existence is often unknown; 
and on the other hand, we attribute to them 
many affections which arise from other 
causes. 

The kinds of worms most common are as- 
carides, lumbrici and taenia or tape-worm. 

The ascarides resemble the worms of 
cheese, but some of them attain nearly the 
length of the linger. They are particularly 
common in children, to whom they cause a 
disagreeable itching in the intestinal canal 
and of the nose, frequent and pressing desire 
to relieve the bowels, with some other symp- 
toms. 

The lumbrici have the form of earth- 
worms. They are white, have, at the point 
of the head, a circle surrounded with a little 
wart, unite in different parts of the intestines, 
on the parietes of which they cause, by mov- 
ing and sucking, an irritation which produces 
pinching and pain, particularly in the region 
of the umbilicus. The usual signs of their 



124 

presence are the following: nausea, much 
aqueous saliva or other liquid in the mouth, 
fetid breath, countenance puffed and pale, 
bluish or brownish arches below the eyes, 
dilatation of the pupils, sleep disturbed, ab- 
domen distended and tense. 

The tape-worm is flat, whitish, often very 
long, and composed of a great number of 
articulations. It is somewhat difficult to 
discover its existence. It sometimes occa- 
sions extraordinary sensations of pressure, of 
cold and of undulatory movement in the 
abdomen, acute pain, cramp, epileptic and 
convulsive movements; often none of these 
symptoms are observable. The only certain 
sign of its presence is the appearance of some 
portions which are naturally detached from 
its body, and are replaced by a new growth. 

The greater part of the means employed 
against these three kinds of worms have at 
most, for their result, the separation of a por- 
tion of them, without destroying the morbid 
principle which produces them. When the 
lumbrici or the ascarides live in the intestines 
in children without producing any serious 
effects, they do not require interference of 
art. But if we observe signs or a real altera- 
tion in health, it becomes necessary to oppose 
to each particular case the means which it 
requires. We can most frequently employ 



125 

against ascarides, aconite, nux, mercury, ig~ 
natia, valerian,* and against lumbrici, nux, 
china, belladonna, mercury J\ 

Stramonium, 9th, will remove colics pro- 
duced by worms. Cicuta virosa, 30th, is 
salutary in fevers caused by worms and ac- 
companied by cramps with violent pains in the 
bowels. — Tincture of sulphur, 30th, causes 
the disappearance of the itching, which arises 
from the same cause. — Filix mas, 11th, ad- 
ministered from time to time, always allays 
the irritation, which is sometimes painful, 
produced by the tape-worm.f 

* Spigelia is also an important remedy in asca- 
rides, also spongia tosta, this remedy has been known 
to procure the evacuation of more than a yard of 
taenia. 

t Lumbrici are frequently evacuated after the ad- 
ministration of arsenic, and in a few instances after 
arnica and belladonna. 

t Homoeopathy possesses no particular specifics 
against worms. Any remedy in the Materia Medica 
may become applicable, says Dr. Hart, if the symp- 
toms only correspond. 



k2 



ON HOMCEOPATHIC DIET 

AND REGIMEN. 

/ 
BY P. CURIE, M. D., &c. &c. 



COMMON PRACTICE IN THIS RESPECT. 

In none of the medical schools which have 
preceded that of Hahnemann, have the rules 
for the adoption of regimen been fixed upon 
a sound and invariable basis. Each school 
has formed these rules upon its peculiar 
views of the nature of disease, and thus, 
while some prescribe an extremely low diet, 
others order, or permit the use of, the most 
nourishing aliments and stimulating wines. 
The object of the former is to subdue that 
irritation, which they consider to be the 
generating principle of the disease, by an 
almost total abstinence from food, — whilst 
the latter attempt to counteract, by stimu- 
lants, that debility which, in their opinion, is 
often the foundation of the malady. 



128 

The examination of the doctrines and rules 
of each school, will demonstrate the existence 
of these contradictions and uncertainties; and 
I do not hesitate to affirm, that this will con- 
tinue until the homoeopathic law is adopted, 
which, by giving a fixed and sure basis to 
therapeutics, will, at the same time, destroy 
all uncertainty regarding regimen. 



Homoeopathic Rules of Diet and Regimen. 

The object to be attained by attention to 
regimen in the treatment of disease, is to 
place the patient in a condition the most 
favourable for the action of the remedy; and, 
to accomplish this, the two following rules 
are considered essential. 

1st. To prohibit the use of every descrip- 
tion of aliment which possesses medicinal 
properties, or which might destroy or modify 
the action of the medicines administered. 

2d. To regulate the quantity of such ali- 
ments as are allowed to the patient, in order 
that the daily waste of the constitution may 
be supplied, without overcharging the diges- 
tive powers. 

The homoeopathic physician prohibits his 
patients from using spirituous liquors, spices, 
acids, strong tea and coffee, and aromatic 



129 

substances. He also excludes from their 
regimen, every aliment which his experience 
informs him is of difficult digestion, and in 
general all fat meats and the flesh of animals 
which are too young; as well as all fruits of 
bad quality, or which are not perfectly ripe. 
He moreover recommends them not to reside 
in marshy districts, nor in dark and damp 
streets, in which there is no free circulation 
of air. For similar reasons, he advises them 
to avoid public meetings, and large parties, 
where the temperature of the air is either too 
elevated, or vitiated by the number of persons 
breathing it. 

The aliments to be preferred, are such as 
the patient digests with the greatest facility; 
and, in this, experience alone can guide him. 
The physician can neither predicate those 
which will be agreeable to him, nor those to 
which he has a dislike. The patient is allow- 
ed to drink pure water, weak beer, or a very 
small quantity of wine mixed with water. 
Wine undiluted, as well as tea and coffee, 
are allowed only to patients who have been 
long accustomed to their use, and who would 
suffer from privation of them. The physi- 
cian must decide in what cases they ought to 
be entirely prohibited, or be only partially 
permitted; but, even when it is necessary to 
allow them, they ought to be taken in much 



130 

smaller quantities and much weaker than 
usual. It is also strongly recommended to 
the homoeopathic patient to avoid every thing 
which is calculated to excite strong emotions, 
and all excesses either of labour or pleasure. 

Exercise is likewise a very important ele- 
ment in the homoeopathic regimen. It is 
indispensable that patients afflicted with a 
chronic disease, should not lead too sedentary 
a life. They ought to take exercise daily in 
the open air, to as great an extent as their 
strength will permit; and if they are unable 
to walk, they ought to be taken out in a car- 
riage, although this mode of exercise is less 
salutary than walking. If the patient is too 
ill to partake of either of these modes of ex- 
ercise, the air of his apartments ought to be 
frequently changed, and the greatest atten- 
tion paid to cleanliness therein. 

Hot baths are not permitted in homoeo- 
pathic treatment; but sponging with cold or 
slightly tepid water is recommended in pre- 
ference. 



These, of brief Duration in Acute Diseases. 

The regimen here pointed out is more espe- 
cially adapted to the treatment of chronic 
diseases. But it is also suitable in acute 



131 

complaints; although, in the latter, it is sub- 
ject to many particular modifications which 
cannot be detailed in a work like the present. 
I will only observe here, that rigorous atten- 
tion to diet in acute disorders, is rarely of 
long duration in homoeopathic practice. In 
no case is the patient restricted from taking 
food, except in cases where he has a positive 
disinclination to it; and whenever the desire 
for food returns, he is allowed by degrees to 
indulge it. Besides, the duration of acute 
diseases being infinitely shorter by the ho- 
moeopathic mode of treatment than by that of 
the old school, the duration of dietetic restric- 
tions is also shorter, and consequently the 
inconveniences arising from long abstinence 
from food are avoided. 



Such Rules Accessory, not Curative. 

From the preceding observations, an opin- 
ion may be formed of the rationale of the 
homoeopathic regimen. It will be remarked, 
that we consider it only as accessory, and 
not curative; and that, consequently, there 
is a wide difference betwixt the homoeopathic 
school and that which has been called the 
expectant — that which looks to the efforts of 
nature for every thing, and proclaims diet, 



132 

water, and exercise, to be sovereign reme- 
dies. 

No doubt, diet, water, and exercise, are 
excellent things. Unquestionably, for him 
who has too constantly remained within 
doors, it may be well to prescribe exercise. 
To another, who has gorged himself with the 
delicacies of the table, it may be proper to 
recommend moderation in eating, and to dic- 
tate such a diet as will give the alimentary 
system time to recover from the effects of 
repletion. And, to him, who has indulged in 
an excess of wine, it may be wise to prescribe 
water: to deprive him for a time of that in 
which he has indulged to excess, is easily 
understood, and it may alone be sufficient to 
re-establish the health, which the abuse of it 
had deranged. 

We should not have mentioned the expect- 
ant school at all, — as it enjoys credit only 
with those who are absurdly credulous, — had 
it not been that we have always been repre- 
sented as ranging ourselves under its banner. 
Those who have seen the success of the ho- 
moeopathic treatment could not well deny it; 
but they have preferred attributing this suc- 
cess to the regimen, and not to the principle, 
and to that curative virtue of homoeopathic 
doses which we proclaim. Their arguments 
appear to us to be quite unfounded. It is 



133 

easily seen that our regimen is infinitely less 
severe than that which is commanded by cer- 
tain other medical schools; for we always 
allow to our patients a quantity of substantial 
nourishment in accordance with their appetite 
and digestive powers. 

It is true that, even in this objection, our 
system of diet is, so far, well understood: but 
its excellence is dependant on this, that it 
does not injure the constitution of the pa- 
tient, and more especially on its favouring 
the most simple and beneficent therapeutic 
which has ever existed. But, on this point, 
it has justly been asked, — if Homoeopathy 
has really performed so many wonderful 
cures by its dietetic prescriptions alone, are 
not the routine practitioners criminal if they 
continue to torment their patients with bleed- 
ings, leeches, cupping, setons, artificial ul- 
cers, hot irons, disgusting draughts, pills and 
other kinds of dangerous and repugnant me- 
dicines? 

Assuredly, if the homoeopathic regimen 
contributes to the preservation of health, it 
has no more power than any other system in 
destroying disease. And those who advance 
the opinion, that it is the strict attention to 
diet exacted by the homoeopathic physician 
which alone produces a cure, ought to feel 
the absurdity of supposing examples of such 

L 



134 

diseases as cholera, typhus, or bilious fever, 
being cured by such means; — and, as regards 
chronic disorders, no one has effected their 
cure by a regulated diet alone. We know, 
on the contrary, that by adhering for a long 
time to a low diet, the organs of digestion 
are weakened, the susceptibility of the ner- 
vous system increased, and that thus new 
disorders may be produced. All this is so 
true, that it is only those of the routine phy- 
sicians who h30e very naturally lost confi- 
dence in their art, who have adopted this do- 
nothing practice. 

The argument of our opponents is the less 
reasonable, even allowing it to be possible to 
cure by regimen alone; for, in that case, of 
what use are the long and difficult studies of 
the medical practitioner? and why does he 
devote his time to them if they lead to 
nothing better than to a simple diet? This 
would be placing a very low value upon the 
labours of those who have devoted their lives 
to the advancement of a science which they 
consider one of the most important: it would 
be placing that science itself in a low rank, 
and it would leave little hope to those who 
expect to derive from it some alleviation of 
their sufferings. 



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